


Fielder's Choice

by Deck Divination (astralpath)



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Alternate Universe - Baseball, Alternate Universe - Sports, Humor, Jargon, Light Angst, M/M, Romance, Specialized knowledge not required to read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-11-21
Packaged: 2018-02-20 19:13:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 52,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2439746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astralpath/pseuds/Deck%20Divination
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yusei, star rookie for the Crimson Dragons is set on becoming the best shortstop of his generation. Then he crosses paths with conceited ace Jack Atlas ... Baseball is secondary, knowledge of the sport not essential!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The K King

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I realize I'm already re-posting another story, but it suddenly occurred to me that the playoffs are on and it might be appropriate to re-post this story in honor of the occasion. This was originally written as a fun summer diversion between 2012/5/25 and sometime in September that year (I'm not sure when I finished because I added a chapter recently to let folks know I have a new story here). After starting really slowly, this story turned out to be surprisingly popular and a favorite of certain readers, which gratified me more than I can say because it was written with so much nostalgia and affection for my youth spent loving baseball and those who loved and played the game. As always, there are minor changes from the original (I will note any major deviations). Anyhow! here's what you should know.
> 
> **Warnings:**
> 
> 1) You'll encounter profanity throughout this story.
> 
> 2) There's a lot of baseball jargon in the story, but please don't let that scare you away! Apparently a lot of people have enjoyed this story despite having no baseball knowledge whatsoever (I'd love to have a testimonial for this site, BTW, hint, hint ;) ). I include a glossary at the end of each chapter to help you through (and, sadly, the first chapter is one of the worst for jargon, so if you can manage that ...). If I've missed anything, or if anything's unclear, please ask in the comments.
> 
> 3) I should point out that the gay characters in this stories are pro sports figures who feel pressure to remain "closeted." Although progress has been made in pro sports since I originally posted this story, and a very few pro sports figures have come out as gay, the progress is slow and (I'm sorry to say) the attitudes expressed in this story are probably still valid. I hope one day that you will laugh at them as a quaint anachronism. (Not really a warning, but I thought it should be added.)

Yusei tapped the plate with his bat. The Neo Domino Crimson Dragons led the Satellite Earthbound Immortals, their rivals, by 2, but they could certainly use a cushion. The Immortals' ace, Jack Atlas, towered on the mound, none too happy to have given up three— _three!_ —runs already in the game. His ERA prior to the game was barely over 1.0.

Yusei smiled to himself. This was an opportunity to see whether he could get under the famously-arrogant blond's skin and put him off-balance. Taking a couple of practice swings, he took his bat and pointed toward the center field fence.

The man on the mound didn't move from his erect and gathered stance, hand in glove, pulled in tight against his broad chest, but Yusei could have sworn he could see those eyes flash from 60 feet away.

It was all he could do not to grin.

He crowded the plate as tightly as he dared and crouched into his batting position, minimizing his strike zone even more than usual.

The pitch came, hot, tight and inside. Yusei was forced to foul it off in self-defense. It had _Try this one!_ written all over it.

Damn, an effective brush-back that wasn't even close to a beaner, Yusei marveled. That's skill!

Nevertheless, it stoked his ire and determination. He was going to get to this man if it killed him. He gritted his teeth. It would not be fun if he were hit by that hundred-plus MPH fastball. That guy wasn't going to lay off with him leaning over the plate like this.

Because he leaned in closer.

Yusei was pretty sure that he noticed another flash from the direction of the mound as he told his body to lay off this one. The way he was leaning, it was going to be a ball. Or hit him. There was no way around it.

By the time Yusei realized it was a fat one over the middle of the plate, it was too late.

_This guy is playing with me!_ Yusei took a step out of the box to put rosin on his hands and regroup.

He couldn't let Atlas win the mental battle.

He stepped back in.

Yusei glanced toward the mound. Atlas was standing there, as usual, full slender height, arms gathered against chest, hand in glove, face expressionless.

Two and oh.

Could Yusei get another flash out of those eyes, he wondered?

_When had it become more about getting a response out of that prick and less about getting a hit?_

_Grr!_

He tore his eyes away from the pitcher and dug in furiously, angry with himself, wondering what the commentators were saying about him in the booth.

_Get your head in the game, Fudo!_

Forgetting all about his original plan, he just wanted to get this at-bat behind him. He stepped out of the box, closed his eyes for a moment, then took his practice swings. _There's no one special on the mound right now_ , he told himself.

He forced himself not to focus directly on the pitcher, instead watching his release.

_There._

His body seemed to react naturally, contacting the ball firmly.

_Crack!!_

The ball took off and so did Yusei. The crowd erupted.

Then … dead silence.

Except for … “Yer out!”

Yusei looked around from first.

_You're kidding._

Atlas was staring into his glove at the ball. At last he tossed it calmly to his catcher, who started it around the horn.

Score it 1, liner to the pitcher.

Yusei looked at the Jumbotron replay as he walked into the dugout. Sure enough: a hot liner, directly back toward the pitcher. Atlas, still off-balance from the follow-through, somehow managed to put his glove in front of it.

That's why the competition hated him.

… and he had a Golden Glove.

They called him the K King. Lowest ERA, no-hit potential, and could field, too. Not only that, he could hit. Oh, yes. He was a true two-way player.

No wonder he was so damn arrogant.

Shit.

* * *

Top of the Ninth. It was looking pretty good. They still had two runs on the Immortals and they had reached the bottom of the order. There were runners on first and second, Crow keeping the man on second close, but there were two out and the pitcher was coming up.

“Aren't they going to pinch hit?” Yusei called to Crow.

“Nope, Atlas is one of their best hitters and he hasn't thrown many pitches. They want him for the bottom of the ninth.”

“Ha, you're in for it!” said Kiryu, who was standing on the bag. “Get your gloves out, boys! This at-bat is gonna be fun-fun- _fun!_ ” The white-haired first baseman of the Immortals was notorious for his big mouth.

“Shut up, Kiryu,” said Crow evenly. “Who asked you, anyway?”

At last their pitcher, Bruno, was ready, and wound up for the pitch. Jack fouled it, long and hard, down the right field line. He stepped out of the batter's box, eyes gleaming, and looked straight at the shortstop position. He then swung his bat toward center field wall and paused it there, suspended for a moment, grinning arrogantly, broad white. Stepping back in, he tapped the plate lightly and glued his eyes to the pitcher, resuming his stance.

Yusei could almost feel Bruno tremble from his position at shortstop. It took all his willpower to keep from standing because he knew his services wouldn't be required.

_God, let it be a long fly ball to center …!_

Bruno paused, went into his windup, and Kiryu took off from second without hesitation.

Jack swung mightily, the crack of his bat echoing through the stadium.

The crowd was immediately silenced as everyone, including Jack, watched the ball sail over the right center field wall.

Jack, grinning, took off on a slow lope around the bases.

As he jogged past Yusei, he called out, “Well, what'd you think, Rook? That's how you do it, wouldn't you say?”

After he passed, he looked toward Crow, made a face and mimicked, sarcastically, “That's how you do it, wouldn't you say?”

Crow doubled in laughter. “But, honestly, Yusei, it's hard to argue, after that!”

* * *

Jack Atlas finished dressing, and was about to make his way back to the hotel, when the GM, Rudger Godwin stopped him on his way out.

“Good game. I'd like to have a word with you, if you don't mind.”

_And if I do?_ He thought, but said nothing. _This can't be good._

He followed Rudger wordlessly.

“You know that the Crimson Dragons are having a good season.”

“Pretty good.”

“Us, not so much.”

“That's right.”

“Except for your play. You've been a bright spot.”

“Thanks.”

“As usual.”

Jack said nothing and waited.

“OK, I'll get to the point. It's pretty obvious that the Dragons need some good pitching going into their pennant run and they want you. Pack your stuff and report to their office tomorrow.”

“OK.”

“We'll miss you.”

“You will.”

He got up and began packing. Most of the guys had already gone out to celebrate, but Kiryu had stuck around waiting for him so that they could go for a beer. _Too bad_ , he thought. _I really don't need this_.

“What, are you leaving?” Kiryu said, looking at his duffel.

“I've been traded.”

“What?! Where?”

“Dragons.”

“Crap. Our rivals? That couldn't be worse.”

Jack shrugged. “What can I do? It's not like I have a choice in it.”

“We cheered against these guys all our childhood! Have you forgotten how tough we had it?”

“No. Not for an instant. I hustled as hard as anyone to make something of myself. Harder than most.”

“I remember.” Kiryu sat on the bench in front of his locker. “This sucks.”

“That's life in the big leagues,” Jack sighed. “See you in the off-season.”

“Yeah. Try not to cream us too bad next series.”

“Dream on.”

**Chapter notes:**

[Note that these are from the original notes, but they mostly still apply]

Well, like I said, completely AU. This is my first attempt to take characters out of context and see if I can keep them somewhat consistent. I decided that I wanted to do the baseball theme in honor of summer and because I'm a little nostalgic for the sport. I used to be a big fan, but got kind of put off by the big money/greed stuff, so ... Near total fluff, maybe not so much as _Media Blitz_ , my other summer diversion.

If the spirit moves, let me know if/how you like this. The feedback would help me know how well I'm doing, especially since I'm trying something new & different.

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

These baseball notes assume virtually no knowledge of baseball; maybe that there are three bases + home plate, a pitcher and catcher, etc., but not much more. ;)

_Fielder's Choice_ : A fielder's choice occurs when a fielder (defensive player, usually an infielder) has the choice of throwing the batter out at first, or preventing a runner from advancing to another base. If the batter is safe at first, he is not credited with a hit (on account of the out), but is charged with a time at-bat. Hopefully you understand the double meaning I'm adding to this term. ;)

_K King_ : A K is a strikeout, so the K King would be the “Strikeout King,” or the pitcher who gets the most strikeouts.

_cushion_ : Extra runs to “pad” a lead so that the other team has a harder time catching up.

_ace_ : Star pitcher.

_ERA_ : Earned run average. The average number of earned runs charged to a pitcher over the games he's pitched during the season. (Earned runs are any runs that are scored that are not charged to fielding errors or passed balls.) An ERA barely over 1.0 would be insanely good, but the season's not over yet ...

_strike zone_ : The strike zone is the area that the pitcher must throw the ball through to pitch a strike: It is the three-dimensional space over home plate (roughly a pentagon), between the shoulders and knees of the batter. Therefore, short players and players who crouch while batting have smaller strike zones (tougher to pitch to).

_hot, tight and inside_ : This would be a pitch close to the hitter.

_foul it off_ : A foul ball is outside the playing field, so outside the first- or third-base line or behind home plate.

_brush-back_ [pitch]: A pitch meant to push the hitter further from the plate. If the hitter is _crowding the plate_ (getting closer to it, to get a good look at the pitch), the pitcher often throws a brush-back to make the batter move off.

_beaner_ : A pitch that hits the batter (“beaner” implies a hit in the head/bean). If the batter is hit by a pitch, he's awarded first base.

_hundred-plus MPH fastball_ : That would be pretty fast.

_Two and oh_ : The count, two strikes, no balls. Yusei's “in the hole,” in danger of striking out. Three strikes = 1 out.

_around the horn_ : A toss of the baseball around the bases.

_Golden Glove_ : The award given to the best fielder. One is awarded to each defensive position (total of nine).

_no-hit potential_ : The potential to throw a no-hitter (game in which the opposition doesn't get a hit).

_a true two-way player_ : A pitcher who can also hit extremely well. Babe Ruth was a two-way player.

_Top of the Ninth_ : Baseball games are divided into innings rather than being played against a clock. They have 9 innings, divided into top and bottom halves. During the top half, the visiting team bats and the home team plays defense, and in the bottom half, they switch off. If the home team is leading into the bottom of the ninth, that half inning is skipped.

_bottom of the order_ : The poorest batters usually come up in the bottom of the [batting] order (end of the sequence of batters for a team) because they bat the fewest times per game.

_pinch hit_ : Substitute someone else for a scheduled batter. Often, if a team is behind toward the end of a game, they might pinch hit for the pitcher and put in a relief pitcher. (Note that traditionally the pitcher hits last even if he's a good hitter.)

_everyone ... watched the ball sail over the right center field wall_ : That is, a home run. A fair ball (between the first and third base lines) over the outfield wall is a home run and the batter and all base runners score.

_Rook_ : Short for Rookie, first-year player.

_GM_ : General Manager.

_next series_ : In baseball, teams typically play a series of 2-4 games with another team before playing another team.

Gah! I can't believe I had to put in so much!! No wonder people are scratching their heads! This is the worst chapter for jargon and I started with it! ! Sorry about that! Hopefully these defs don't confuse you even more!


	2. Change-up

The next morning, Jack walked into Neo Domino Stadium and reported to the front office. He was immediately ushered into Jaeger's office.

Jaeger started without waiting for Jack to say anything. “I'd like to welcome you to the team. All the paperwork has been forwarded to your agent … uh, Rex Godwin, I believe his name is?”

“Yeah …” Rex Godwin was actually the brother of the Jack's former GM. A little meddlesome, but it had worked out all right … until now, at least.

“Right. I want you to report directly to the Trainers' Room for a look-over and treatment. I want you in top shape for your next start.”

“Sure, Mr Jaeger.”

“And … I want you to report before the game for a formal introduction to the team. … Oh, and one more thing. We sent a pretty popular pitcher to the minors to make room for you, so be prepared for a little guff at first.”

_Great. Figures_.

* * *

Jack traipsed on down to the Trainers' Room where he met a Dr Schmidt.

“You look in top shape,” he commented, pointing Jack to the whirlpool. “We're going to give you some time in there, a little stim and warmth, then some warm-up and massage, but nothing special. If I may ask, what did Jaeger trade for you?”

“I'm not sure. You'd have to ask him. I think it was a couple of draft picks and minor leaguers. Oh, and cash. I don't think Jaeger wanted to change up the team much during the pennant run.”

“You got that right,” smiled Schmidt. “It's a great team with great chemistry. I think you'll like it.”

Jack smiled back at the man. This guy seemed to like him all right, he thought. But he wasn't as positive about how he would get on with the team. After all, rival team, the pitcher they all, up until a moment ago, hated the guts of? Wouldn't it be hard to adjust?

But they were all adults. And … he was also admired.

And envied.

He sighed and settled into the whirlpool.

“What are you doing here?!”

Jack opened his eyes. “Oh. Hi,” he said. “Bommer. Pleased to meet you.” He extended a large hand toward the catcher. “I guess you didn't hear. I've been traded to the Dragons. It'll be great working with a first-class catcher like—”

“What, are they insane?! I was finally making progress with Saiga and now all of that's straight out the window!”

_How did he know it was Saiga who was—well, maybe it was obvious he'd be the one …_

Jack sighed and dropped his hand. “I guess I'll talk to you later then,” he said, watching Bommer storm out the door, doubtless in the direction of Jaeger's office. “Whatever.” He closed his eyes again and settled back.

_Was everyone going to be that way about it?_ he wondered. Even that rookie shortstop, the one they called Professor Putout? The kid had seemed to take his razzing the previous night as some sort of put-down, but Jack had loved the way Yusei had challenged him, taking him to his limit. He messed the most with the people who mattered, but the rookie wouldn't know that. It would be a shame if he took the wrong attitude about this change-up.

While he was lying on a massage table, now clad in the bottom half of his baseball uniform, with hot packs covering his shoulder and left arm, a young man walked in and did a double-take.

“Ah! Mr Atlas! I heard you're with the team now!” he said excitedly. “C-can I get your autograph? —Not now, of course, for sure, you're busy, but later, any time of course, I'm the bat boy, so you can do it whenever. My name's Rua.”

Jack had to restrain himself from laughing at the boy's ardent enthusiasm. At least someone in the dugout was happy to see him there. “Sure, Rua,” he said. “Just remind me later on.”

“This is so great! We're a shoo-in for the pennant now! We've got the best fielding, and now we have the pitcher with the best ERA … and you can hit, too! This is … this is _epic!_ ”

Jack didn't bother restraining himself this time and laughed outright. “You really think so?”

“Yeah, I do.”

He hadn't really thought about it that way yet. Even if they all hated him, the winning part … that would make up for just about everything else. And if they could increase his winning percentage … let them increase their whining percentage. See if he cared.

* * *

Yusei walked into the clubhouse and was immediately pelted with a rolled up sports-page. “Where the hell have you been all day?” demanded Crow.

“I had errands! I didn't have to report until now.”

“You're usually early. Fine time to be on time,” he groused. “Obviously you haven't bothered to look at a paper. All day!”

“No. Why? What's the big …” Yusei's eyes grew in size. Clearly something was up. His hand dived for the paper, but it was too late, the big deal walked into the clubhouse.

And he was a big deal. As in 6-5.

“Hi, Rook, didn't think I'd be seeing you again so soon,” he grinned.

The guy was already outfitted in a fresh Crimson Dragon uniform, red jersey, nice, crisp whites with fine red pinstripes. And he wore it well, choosing to cut his pants at the calf, his stirrups high, but not too high … it set off his long, finely-muscled calves perfectly.

And the red of the Crimson Dragons' cap set off his sunshine-blond hair so much better than the blue-and-black of the Immortals. Those tendrils of hair made famous in dozens of shampoo ads looked even more shiny in person, lying over a crescent of red jersey and his broad white-clad chest.

Not that Yusei was noticing or anything.

“Neither did I,” Yusei groused, picking up the thread of their greetings. “Guess you'll be an asset. Don't hit a slump just for us, dude.”

“I don't plan on it. Don't you make any fall vacation plans,” he smiled, strutting off in the direction of the field. “Pardon me, I have some laps to do.”

Crow scowled after him. “If he just weren't so damn … superior … about everything. He's only been in the majors—what, two, three years?—and he acts like he owns the place.”

“What pitcher acts like he loves running laps?” asked Yusei. “That's just not … normal.”

“Eh,” Crow shrugged. “Get dressed. You'll be late for fungo-rama.”

 

**Chapter notes:**

_stim_ : Electrical stimulation therapy for muscles. Helps heal them.

_As in 6-5_ : Since this is baseball, which uses feet/inches, etc., I thought I'd be consistent. (Six feet, five inches; don't know if this is about how tall Jack is _supposed_ to be, but it's tall and a good height for a pitcher.)

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_GM_ : General Manager. The guy who runs the team as far as putting the team together and running operations. The Manager or “skipper” runs the team on the field.

_ERA_ : Earned run average. Basically, a measure of how good a pitcher is. The lower the ERA, the fewer runs he lets in, so the better the pitcher.

_fungo_ : a ball tossed by hand into the air and then hit with the bat, in this case, for fielding practice.


	3. At the Plate

Yusei had become increasingly annoyed throughout the game as Crow eyeballed him periodically, looking like he was dying to say something to him, but had to wait. Despite Crow's scrutiny, Yusei managed to have a good game, going 2 for 3 with a walk.

The team walked into the clubhouse in a relatively good mood, having put the game into the win column. Yusei barely noticed the new member of the team—he seemed to have dressed quickly and then made himself scarce. Meanwhile, Crow begged off the usual post-win celebration, telling the usual bunch that he and Yusei had decided to grab a steak.

Sure enough, that's exactly what they did and soon Yusei had an outsize slab of steak sitting on a plate in front of him along with a baked potato. “So what is this all about, Crow?” he demanded. “I know you can't wait to talk to me, so could you spit it out already?”

“Jack Atlas,” he said, as though that explained everything.

“So? It looks like we're stuck with him. But on the good side, he's a great pitcher so—”

Crow rolled his eyes. “Remember Cullen? This is exactly like him!”

Yusei rolled his eyes back at Crow. “Cullen? What the—How can you say that? And you say that as though it's a good thing! Cullen was a horrible mistake I made all the way back in high school. Are you saying that you want me to repeat that?”

“Of course not. I'm just saying that Atlas is exactly the same type as Cullen was. _Your_ type, Yusei.”

“We don't even know if Jack Atlas is gay or even bi. Odds are that he's not, right? Cullen wasn't. I ended up doing homework for that jerk basketball star for two solid years, Crow!”

“So, it doesn't have to be that way this time. Just figure out who he likes and see how it goes.”

“Yeah, and what's the probability that someone like him is unattached, straight or gay?”

“Well, how do you know until you ask? Besides, if he bats for your team, you're far better than anybody he's likely to have going!”

“Damn it, Crow, why are you being so meddlesome? And what would you know about it, anyway?!”

“Because I saw you sneaking looks at him. Because it's obvious to me that you're interested and you still haven't had a meaningful relationship, Yusei!”

“You think I can have a 'meaningful relationship' with Jack Atlas? How desperate do you think I am to seek meaning in a relationship with someone who has all the depth of a dewdrop?”

“Are you sure that there isn't more there than that? C'mon, Yusei, you're the one who keeps telling me not to judge a book by its cover.”

“Damn, Crow, there's a difference between deciding to get to know someone better and planning a romance with someone you don't even know.” Yusei scowled at his plate, idly pushing a snap pea from one side to the other with his fork. “Good grief, is this why you asked me to have dinner with you? Can't we talk about your latest squeeze or the Vikings, or something?”

* * *

Across the restaurant, Jack Atlas was seated at a table with his agent, Rex Godwin. “So, Jack, how do you like your new team?” Rex asked.

“They're a little ticked. Apparently they sent a popular pitcher down to make room for me.”

“Strange, you're improving their odds of making the playoffs quite a bit. Have you seen the latest Vegas sheet?”

“You know I don't follow those things. I have my hands full watching my own stats. But you know how guys are, they care more about their buddies than their record sometimes.”

“Give it time. They care about their record and as you get closer to the wire, you're going to get a lot more popular, believe me.” Rex settled into his chicken, then pinned Jack with a significant stare. “Oh, and another thing. No grandstanding at the plate. I know that you can hit, but show a little humility, kid, OK? There are some folks who actually resent the fact that you have that sort of excessive talent.”

“It's jealousy.”

“I don't care what it is. You need to work with your team and you need the support of your fans. Arrogance has a certain attraction to a point when you can back it up … but there's a lot to be said for humility.”

“Coming from where I did, humility gets you nothing but a sock in the jaw and …” Jack looked at his plate and started cutting his steak assiduously, murmuring, “worse abuse.”

“Yeah, well … the fans don't know that, do they?” Rex shrugged. “Anyway, how do you feel about your team? Your teammates?”

“I don't know why you care about that.”

“Look, Jack, I know you don't believe this, but I do care about you as something more than a money machine.”

“And I'm one hell of a money machine. I suppose I should thank you for the salary boost.”

“You're welcome … I think. But could you answer my question?”

“The team? I don't know. They're being difficult about the change for some reason that I don't quite get.”

“Maybe it's the homer?”

“That probably didn't help,” he allowed. “Hnh. I guess …” Immediately his mind presented him with that challenging shortstop again, with his slightly sullen poker face and sharp, intelligent blue eyes. “Yeah, there's some great talent on the team, and … if they warm up a little, they could be cool.”

They ate in silence for a little while before Rex spoke up again, saying, “About that girlfriend of yours, Jack …”

“What about her?” Jack said, annoyed.

“When are you going to let her down?”

“What?”

“You know that it's nothing long-term, but you've been dating her over a year. Don't you think it's time for you to let Carly off the hook?” Rex looked at Jack's surprised expression, and said, “I know.”

“You … you what?”

“I know, Jack. I know you're not interested in Carly and I know why.”

Jack stared at him for a moment, then finally relented, sighing. Speaking quietly, he said, “If you know, then you know how reasonable it is for me to have someone to prevent other people from knowing. I'm in baseball, dammit. This isn't my choice! Baseball is all I want to do and I could be kicked out if anybody else found out. If Carly had anybody else, I'd step aside.”

“Yeah, tell yourself that, but your being there keeps her from looking seriously. Obviously she doesn't know the score. Do you have someone?”

“What? How is that your business? What is it with the third degree?”

“You're an orphan, Jack. I'm probably the closest thing to family that you have. Excuse me for taking a personal interest in you.”

“Right. Mr Money cares. Pardon me if I'm not convinced.”

“Yeah, well, my clients aren't just numbers to me, believe it or not.”

“Fine, but … I'm not telling, not today, anyway.”

“That's a _no_ , then.”

“What? Whatever.” Jack dug into his potato, annoyed. He hated that Godwin had figured out that he was gay, hated even more that he couldn't admit it publicly, and—most of all—hated that he didn't have anyone special. All the fans drooling over him and he _still_ didn't have anyone special. He tried to look cool and completely unconcerned. He was positive that everyone in the restaurant was fooled.

Everyone except Godwin, that is.

 

**Chapter notes:**

_Cullen_ : An homage to _Kalin_ , the 4Kids version of Kiryu. Of course, this Cullen is more of a Jack Atlas type, at least as far as Crow is concerned. Honestly, there aren't enough characters in 5D's to put together a decent team and assorted competitors, so … got to throw in some OCs for sure.

_Vikings_ : Not a football team in this fic. It's another baseball team that Brave, Dragan, and Harald play for. I'd make it the Valkyries, but they're female.

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_they care more about their buddies than their record_ : Their win/loss record.

_the wire_ : The end of the season/the playoffs. That is, when the winning team for the division is decided.


	4. Caught Looking

A couple of days later it was Jack's turn in the rotation and as the game wore on, Yusei was having more and more trouble concentrating. What was it about Jack Atlas, anyway? As Yusei ran out into the infield after the seventh-inning stretch, he stole a look at the pitcher between tosses around the horn.

He had to admit that the man was attractive—just his type. Tall, slender, and blond. And that face! When he wasn't distorting it with some sort of arrogant pose, if he just relaxed and smiled a little … god! That was … well, it was enough to almost make him want to ask him out.

But that would be stupid.

You don't confess these sorts of feelings to a ballplayer. That's the kind of thing that got you kicked right out of the game. And although he had other things in his life, he wanted to do this, to become maybe the best shortstop of his generation. Maybe even the best contact hitter. He was objective enough to know that he had the tools.

He couldn't let this beefcake of a southpaw stand in his way.

Everything had been cleared away and Atlas was taking his last warm-up pitches.

“Batter up!”

Barkley Grand, center fielder for the Spartans, stepped up to the plate. Yusei assumed his fielding position, determined to pay close attention to the batter. You couldn't take this guy for granted. He was a contact hitter whose job was to get on base any way possible.

And he was currently on a streak.

The kid took his time with his practice swings, trying to put Jack off-balance.

_Good luck with that_ , Yusei thought. His gaze wandered back to Jack. As usual, the man was standing stock still on the mound, staring down into his glove. The only motion was his pitching hand, which was rotating the ball continuously, as though it were a perpetual motion machine.

Suddenly the long body coiled, the right knee surging up so that it was nearly at the level of his chin. _Damn!_ Yusei tore his attention from the stunning sight, wrenching it back to the batter just in time to see the ball bounding his way. He muffed the ball slightly, but managed to get the throw off to first in time.

_Damn, Yusei, get your head in the game!_

He looked over toward second base and exchanged looks with Crow. Crow mimed mopping his brow. _Whew!_

He scowled in toward home plate. It was Crow's fault, anyway. Why did he have to suggest dating the guy, anyway? It had him distracted. It was bad enough that he was such a perfect specimen without Crow pointing it out to him. It was so unfair, anyway. Even if there was a chance with Atlas, he stood staring away from Yusei all game, while Yusei had to look right past him to see the plate.

Right past that distracting sight.

Well, he was just going to ignore the guy, that's all. He was just another pitcher on the team.

* * *

The next day Yusei headed to visit with Dr Schmidt carrying a stack of books.

“Hey, Yusei,” Dr Schmidt greeted. “You know, this actually gives you a great opportunity.”

“This? This what?”

“Your interest in biomechanics, of course. You're going to get a degree, and this is a perfect opportunity. I've already spoken with him about it.”

“Spoken with him? What are you talking about?”

“Jack Atlas, of course. I'd think that you'd be interested in studying him. He's a remarkable physical specimen with an incredible natural talent. We have the chance to study his release and work with Red. Doesn't that excite you?”

Yusei almost choked. Was Dr Schmidt suggesting that he work closely with Jack Atlas? Off the field? Crow would, well, crow. Normally he'd jump at the chance. Help out the pitching coach, Red Garrett? Help the team? Get a leg up on his future work? Sure, but … Atlas?

“Would—would you let me think about it a while?” he asked haltingly. “I'm … interested, but this … this might actually be too much of a load for me right now. I have to play every day, you know and …”

Dr Schmidt looked at him with a little disappointment, but nodded. He smiled reassuringly. “I guess I'm used to you being an overachiever, Yusei, don't worry about it. If you decide you want to work on this project with me, just let me know.”

“Uh, Dr Schmidt, did you mention me by name?”

“Actually, no, Yusei, I don't think so. I just said that there was a student that I was working with. Does it matter?”

“No, not so much. I just don't need the razzing if I don't have the time.”

“How are you doing by the way? Make sure you come in before the game so I can check you out too.”

“I feel great. No pain at all.” Even if he had been feeling pain, he'd rather not run into Atlas just about now. He wanted to get over whatever this was first. And let Crow's … _thing_ about Atlas ease off.

Yusei shook his head as he took a seat at a desk in Schmidt's office and cracked a book. Study Jack Atlas? Study his _body?_ If he didn't know Dr Schmidt better, he'd have wondered if Crow hadn't put him up to it. 'Remarkable physical specimen'? Make that near-perfect. Somewhere Jack was soaking in a tub, getting a massage, or taking stim right now … some kind of post-rotation therapy. Something that required him to take off his shirt or maybe more.

He sighed and turned his attention to his textbook.

* * *

Yusei had managed to survive until Jack's next start with minimal contact with the blond, but if anything, that only increased his discomfort level in the field behind the pitcher. From the very start, he felt nervous and had a hard time keeping his focus. He managed to make it through one cycle of the batting order, but by the second time that the lead-off hitter for the Vikings stepped up to the plate, he was feeling anything but secure. The Vikes were recent rivals for the Dragons because of their drawn-out fights in the play-offs and every game they played felt like war.

Brave seemed almost to sense Yusei's mood because his glance seemed to linger toward left-center field for a little longer than it should have.

“Watch it,” called Crow. “This guy's a trickster!”

_You don't have to tell me …_

Brave's reputation preceded him. He wasted no time in harassing Jack, who ignored him soundly, staring into his glove as though the baseball there was the most interesting thing in the universe.

The thing was, all this extra time allowed Yusei's attention to wander from home over to the pitcher's mound, where he could get a good look at Jack. He was more or less motionless, facing away towards first base, his head down. Yusei had a lovely view of his long legs, those strong calves, lithe slender thighs, the tight rear, and those broad shoulders tapering into a nice, slender waist.

_Mmm_.

Eventually Brave tired of going through his elaborate pre-batting rituals and stepped up to the plate. Jack immediately served up a hot fastball for a strike. … Which was followed by another long wait for Brave.

… and yet another opportunity for Yusei's attention to wander over toward the mound. A nice evening breeze had sprung up finally, easing the heat of the day, and had caught the tendrils of Jack's hair, playing with them gently. He sort of envied the breeze …

Jack yawned elaborately, shaking Yusei out of his reverie, then served up yet another hot fastball, which Brave took a whiff at for another strike.

How Yusei wished Brave had made contact! This meant another long wait whilst he beat around the bush. Didn't he realize that he wasn't getting under Jack's skin? … Speaking of Jack's skin …

Yusei was really losing concentration now, trying to remember what the difference was between the way Jack's skin looked under these lights and in sunlight. The way he moved when—

_Crack!_

_Shit!_

Yusei wasn't quite set for the ball bouncing toward him and when it took the bad hop off the edge of the dirt he couldn't adjust. It took an odd angle between him and Crow and skidded off into center field where Andre had to pick it up on the run, throwing it quickly to Crow to cut him off.

Crow gave him a sympathetic look as though he wanted to say something later, but Jack was standing on the mound, not quite frowning, but his face was stiff, his expression serious. He gave Yusei a very hard, probing look before turning to take the throw from Bommer.

Yusei cringed inwardly. The upside? He had a lot less trouble keeping his eyes off Jack for the remainder of the game.

* * *

“Hey, Rook, we're going for a beer after the game. I need to talk to you.” Jack Atlas was suddenly looming over him, leaning on the wall, those blond tendrils of his practically hanging in his face. “If anyone asks, I'm trying to make up for the bad foot we got off on.”

“Uh, OK, yeah, but—”

Jack was gone. Why was _No_ so difficult to say? _No_ was easy to say, so …

And now Crow was standing there. Why did everyone want to talk to him today? “What was that about?”

“Dunno.” _Wait … might as well use the excuse_. “I think it was because … because he got off on such a bad foot with everyone. Especially me.”

“I don't think that's it. I think it's because of the error you made.”

“The … it was one error.”

“When do you make errors, Yusei? But you've been losing concentration behind him for a while now. Do you think a guy like that doesn't notice things like that?”

_Oh. My. God. Crow noticed? If Crow noticed, then who else noticed?!_

“Yusei, don't panic. No one but me suspects why you made those errors.”

Yusei gritted his teeth. “But he's an arrogant son of a bitch!”

“He's one hell of a talented SOB … who's … well, I won't go into it right here. Have that beer.” Crow smiled. “Think of it as an opportunity. It might be your only chance.”

“My— _Damn you, Crow!_ ”

* * *

Jack took Yusei to a little bar that the team didn't frequent. It was a sort of a businessman's bar. “Didn't want to take you to a sports bar and get swamped,” he said as they entered. “I want to talk to you privately.” He signaled to a waitress, who seemed to know him and they were ushered to an upper level and into a booth that was not obviously private but offered enough room for a private conversation.

“We'd like a couple of beers, please, Stephanie,” he said. “Make mine a Samuel Adams. What're you having, Yusei?”

“Coors Light.”

“Gah, if you say so. Live a little, Yusei.” Stephanie rushed off.

“Is this about that error?”

“Yes and no.” He sighed. “I might as well get to the point. I know I can be distracting. But it's important to me, for my career, for your career, that you don't allow yourself to be distracted. It's not just your stats, it could be your career. If people find out about this kind of thing and it gets around, it could be bad. You know how sports people are.”

“I don't know … what are you talking about?”

“Here you are, sirs!” Stephanie said brightly, setting beers and glasses in front of them.

Jack sighed. “I'm positive we're going to need at least one more.” He scowled. “And make that _two_ Sam Adams, would you? I need to introduce this guy to good beer. Now that he can afford it?” He watched Stephanie walk off. “Coors Light? I mean … really?”

“What's wrong with it?”

“What's _wrong_ with a Big Mac? But I'll take a Porterhouse when I can get it instead.” He grinned, taking a swallow of beer. A tiny rim of foam clung to his lips and the tip of his tongue flickered out momentarily to lick it off his lips. It was a quick motion, not executed in a manner that was in any way remotely teasing or sensual, but somehow Yusei's eyes were drawn irresistibly to the sight, mesmerized by the sight of those lips, neither ridiculously soft and pillowy nor thin and hard. Just slightly pink. And then there was the tip of his tongue, barely seen, pressed against those lips for the briefest of moments, the foam …

“… in other words, you need to focus.”

_Shit. What had he said?_

Yusei took a huge swallow of beer and tried to look like he understood everything Jack had been saying. He was pretty sure that he understood the drift.

He sighed. “You're absolutely right. I don't know what's been wrong lately, but I've been distracted. I promise that I'll get my head back in the game.”

Jack stared at him, his eyes boring holes into Yusei's, one corner of that fascinating mouth drawing back in an expression of exasperation. “You weren't even listening, were you?”

“I …” He rolled his eyes over toward the dance floor, which they could easily see across from their table and over the railing. “I guess I can't deny it. I was distracted.”

“You can't even be bothered to listen to me,” he said. “Fine then. I wasn't going to bring this up, but … If it's like this, I'm going to take a chance. This is for your sake and the sake of our team and this season. If you … If you sell me out, Yusei, it's going to come back on you, so help me …” He looked almost angry, leaning forward. Yusei was afraid that he was going to reach out and shake him like a rag doll.

“Look, Atlas, I …”

“Shut up and listen,” he said in a harsh whisper and looked around carefully. Lowering his voice, he began talking. “I know exactly what your problem is. You've been spending more time looking over at my ass than the batters. It was only a matter of time before you started making errors and if you don't get it together fast, someone is going to catch a clue.”

“What?” Yusei started in a likewise low and urgent tone, “No, I—”

“Don't even bother denying it, I have a finely-tuned gaydar. Guys have been hitting on me since I hit puberty.”

_Why doesn't that surprise me?_ _Tall like that, he probably looked a few years older and …_

“Don't drift! You know how the sports world is. I don't care how much you ogle me off-field, but ignore me during the game. Pretend I look like Red … or, better yet, Corky Brand, our skipper.”

Yusei couldn't help laughing at the thought.

“That's more like it.”

Yusei scowled. “You-you don't care?” he said, realizing what Jack had said.

“No, I don't. Honestly, you don't seem to like me all that much. You just seem … physically attracted. Eh. I'm over that. I want someone …” he shrugged, “someone who thinks I'm special or something.”

Pink appeared across Jack's finely-chiseled cheekbones, giving Yusei yet another mental picture to file away under “beefcake.” Was the man _trying_ to drive him nuts?

“So you're …?”

“I've all but spelled it out, haven't I? A pitcher needs his shortstop to have his back. I need to trust you, Yusei. I need you to want to do your best to help me win. I'm giving you a weapon that you can use against me. I'm going to show you that I'm willing to give it a try. It wasn't your intention to give yourself away, but I know something about you. Obviously, you're smart enough not to shout it to the baseball world. I'm planning to keep it to myself and I'm showing you my trust in you by giving you something on me. But if you screw me … I'll make you wish you'd never been born.”

Yusei found himself staring into Jack's intense gaze trying to put together a coherent sentence. “I … think we have … an understanding,” he managed to choke out. Why was it that every little aspect of Jack was distracting and incredibly attractive? Tall? Check. Blond? Check. Talented? Double-check. Even the things that he thought he should hate, but turned him on: aggressive? Check. Arrogant? Check. And what was it with these violet eyes? It wasn't contacts for sure, now that he could really see them.

Jack leaned back, removing his eyes from close inspection. Keeping his voice down and taking another swig of beer, he said amicably, “I'd give you a rough-and-tumble myself, except … well …” he shrugged. “I don't like it angry, sorry. I wish you didn't hate me, but I'm willing to settle for you looking to your career. I know that means something to you.” He frowned. “You do, ah, talk, don't you?”

Yusei scowled. Bad enough that this stupid arrogant guy seemed to be able to back up all his boasts, but now he could see right through Yusei and Yusei couldn't even put two words together in his presence? This was ridiculous! “Of course I can talk!” he griped. “It's hard to squeeze a word in edgewise with you rattling on!”

Jack only grinned at him, amused, and said, “Now, that's more like it. Can I give you some advice?” Not waiting for a reply, he forged on. “Get yourself a girlfriend. Not someone serious, but someone who doesn't mind being strung along. Someone who likes the idea of dating a ballplayer and 'understands' the fact that they're out of town all the time. You shouldn't even have any trouble with the sex thing because you seem like a serious, take-things-slow sort. I've had to pick a girl who's a shrinking violet.”

“It—it doesn't bother you that you're taking away opportunities from her and giving her false hope?”

“I haven't made any promises and if any men with real interest enter her life, I'll beat it for the exit.”

Yusei stared at him. “I don't know, Jack. That sounds awfully convenient for you at her expense, don't you think? What if she's in love with you?”

A ghost of a frown flitted across Jack's handsome features. “In love?” It was as though he hadn't considered this a possibility. Then he shrugged. “Everyone's in love with Jack Atlas,” he smiled. “Drink your beer.”

* * *

“You're kidding! He's gay?!”

“Sh! Keep it down! I promised I wouldn't tell anyone, and I'm positive that 'anyone' includes you.” Yusei and Crow were huddled on his hotel bed, speaking in soft tones.

“I thought it was about the error.”

“It was … essentially. He knew exactly why I made it.”

“Yeah. He's exactly your type.”

“He is not.”

“Oh yeah? Cullen ring a bell?”

“Like I could forget being treated like dirt for almost two years. If only he were gay. I tried to be friends,” he said sadly.

“And see how that worked out.”

“Well, he wasn't a really good friend.”

“He took advantage of you. I don't know if he knew—”

“I don't think so—”

“But it couldn't have turned out much worse if he had. I'm glad you never told him, Yusei.”

“Me too.” Yusei scowled. “Could we—could we _not_ talk about that, please?”

“Uh, sure. Sorry, Yusei.” Crow leaned back and ran a hand through his shock of red hair. “So what are you planning on doing about it?”

“I plan on thinking about baseball and getting on with my career.”

“Right … You know you're not going to be able to get him out of your, er, mind.”

“Would you please get your mind out of the gutter?”

“You first.”

Yusei sighed. There would be no reasoning with him. “Why are you so insistent on hooking me up? You know it's not going to work during the season, anyway.”

“Even with Mr Luscious on the mound? C'mon, even I can tell that he's a looker and I'm straight.”

“Yeah, the girls hang off of him after every game.”

“And you have an advantage over every one of'em. Remember that,” Crow said smugly.

“Don't worry about it. He as much as said that he wasn't interested.”

“And what did he say? I mean, exactly.”

Yusei frowned. “I can't remember, exactly. He said something about wanting someone who thought he was special and not wanting angry sex. But … seems like there are a lot of people out there who think he's damn special. He's a once-in-a-generation pitcher.” Yusei's frown deepened into a scowl. “No, with his batting talent, he might even be a once-in-a-century pitcher. He's ridiculous, actually. He shouldn't have any trouble at all finding someone who thinks he's special.”

“But, Yusei. Maybe what he's looking for … Maybe he's looking for someone who thinks he's special without all that.”

“Without all that? What do you mean?”

Crow shrugged. “You're the genius, Genius. I'm going to bed. I want to be ready for the game tomorrow.”

Yusei slipped off of Crow's bed and climbed into his own, snuggling under the covers. It didn't help to have Crow practically encourage him to take a chance with the hurler.

_I'd give you a rough-and-tumble myself …_

_Dammit, Atlas—!_

He closed his eyes and turned toward the wall as though he could turn his back on the events of the evening that way.

But all he could see on the velvet backdrop of his eyelids was sparkling amethyst eyes, bouncing shiny blond curls under a crimson Dragons cap, and the graceful wind-up and release of a long, lanky southpaw. It was a long time later that sleep took him, his hand trapped under his cheek and aching to relieve the tension that had built up much lower in his body.

 

**Chapter notes:**

[A couple of responses to review comments carried over:] _Is Godwin still going to be a creeper like he is in the series?_ I'll let you read and find out. But I wanted to make him Jack's agent because I thought the relationship was a little similar: it put him in Jack's business, he has a monetary interest in Jack, and Jack doesn't entirely trust his motives, as you (hopefully) can see. _And is it bad that as soon as you said 'Cullen' I thought of the Twilight Saga?_ Gee, I don't know, I haven't read the _Twilight_ Saga (I'm more of a _Dracula/BtVS_ type). Like I said, I made up the name as a take-off on Kalin.

_Samuel Adams_ : I'm sure there are many higher-status beers than Samuel Adams, but it's one (as a “craft beer”) that you can't find simply everywhere and isn't one of the top beers (In the US, Coors Light is #2 with Bud Light at #1 – almost 6 billion dollars last year!).

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_Title_ : If a batter watches a pitch go by for a called third strike without trying to hit it, he is “caught looking.” Is this a better title than the original? You be the judge:

The original title for this chapter was “Muffed Chances.” In baseball a fielding _chance_ is an opportunity for a putout. It's part of the calculation of fielding average. If a fielder commits an error, he should have put the runner out, but failed, usually because he either mishandled the ball while fielding it or threw wildly.

_it was Jack's turn in the rotation_ : The pitching rotation, that is the order in which the pitchers on a team take turns pitching games.

_seventh inning stretch_ : A period between the two teams' turns at bat during the 7th inning (teams get 9 innings or chances to score during a game) during which fans get to stretch their legs.

_tosses around the horn_ : The infield warms up by throwing the ball around the bases (the horn).

_contact hitter_ : Hitter who is hard to strike out.

_southpaw_ : Left-handed pitcher.

_Corky Brand, our skipper_ : The manager or head coach of the team (an OC).


	5. Knocked Around

Yusei entered the stadium the next day with mixed emotions. For some reason, he felt a little better knowing that Jack knew his secret considering that he understood what it was like to have those kinds of feelings. Still, Jack also knew that Yusei had those kinds of feelings specifically for him … which was awkward. So he still had adjustments to make.

What else was new …?

He was trudging toward the clubhouse, head down, lost in thought, when he literally ran into a tall, solid body. Almost certain that it had to be the Awkward Situation in question, he looked up only to find Bruno Antimony looking mildly down at him saying, “Excuse me,” as though he were at fault.

“Oh, hi, Bruno, sorry about that. I guess I was wool-gathering.”

“'S OK, I was looking for you anyway.”

“Me? Why?”

“Uh, you've been talking to Jack Atlas as much as anyone on the team—”

“Which isn't a whole hell of a lot, Bruno.”

“But still, it's some. Plus, I want to talk to the team about it and … you're a leader type, Yusei, I'm not.”

“I'm just a rookie, Bruno.”

Bruno ignored that. “The pitching staff … we really took the loss of Saiga hard, and … I guess we took it out on Jack a bit. It's tough. He's kind of a stoic type and … he acts like he doesn't care about it, but …”

“He's not forgiving you, is he?” It was more of a statement than a question.

“Not so much.”

“And you want me to help you talk to everyone? Help them come round?”

“Yeah. Do you think you could? I don't think he likes me much, and I wish he would.”

Yusei gave Bruno's shoulder a shove. “He thinks you're soft.” He smiled. “You do kind of let the cocky ones intimidate you more than they should sometimes. But I'm sure it's not as bad as you think. But if you think it'll help, I'll get the guys together. Jack's going to be tied up in PT most of the day anyway. You grab the pitching staff, I'll take care of the rest of the team. OK?”

“OK, I think I can handle that.”

“Good. Meet me back in the clubhouse, say, in an hour, hour and a half?”

“Thanks, Prof!” Bruno said happily, trotting off.

Yusei chuckled. The team had started using the nickname that fans had come up with, Professor Putout, only they'd wisely shortened it to 'Prof.' _Guess they picked up on how smart I am_ , he thought. _Hope that's not a bad thing_. Well, in any case, it was inevitable.

He stopped by Dr Schmidt's office just long enough to have him ask everyone but Jack to come by the clubhouse.

“What's up?”

“Oh, just a little meeting. A couple of the guys want to clear the air.”

“Let me guess. It's about Jack.”

“I guess that's obvious, since he's not invited. I figure … well, some touchy subjects might come up and I don't know him well enough to know how he'd take them.”

“I think he's got a pretty thick skin … Well, he might be defensive, at first, anyway, but he really can deal with hard knocks.” He leaned in, lowering his voice. “Between you and me, he's seen more of them than he's willing to admit.”

“What …? Never mind. I'll see you later. I have a meeting to arrange.” _Hard knocks?_ Yusei realized that he really didn't know much about Jack. There were scads of articles about the guy, but he had never done more than skim any of them.

_Guys have been hitting on me since I hit puberty._

The memory of Jack's words hit him so hard as he was walking back to the clubhouse that he almost tripped up and fell. He'd said it all tough and off-hand … but …

He stood stock still in the hallway.

It must have been hard. Did he have anyone to help him through it? _Anyone_ who understood?

He wanted to turn around and ask Jack about it, find out how he felt, find out how he made it through. Did he have his own Crow to talk to? Crow wasn't gay, but at least he'd listened. He understood how Yusei felt. He gave Yusei the support he needed to make it through each day, through the disappointments, and he was there to share in the celebrations.

Yusei forced himself to start walking again. Jack's tough, he told himself. It's like Dr Schmidt said. He had to have a thick skin. But …

But the thing was, he knew what it was like to put up a façade, too.

He grabbed Crow on the way in. “Hey, help me get the guys together, will you? We need to meet. Bruno wants to say something. Me too.”

“Bruno? Wait. This is about Atlas, isn't it?”

“Who else do we need to iron things out about? People need to get with the program instead of just going through the motions. I'm not the only one messing up behind him, and for the rest of them, it's because they're … well, let's face it, they've just not been into it. They've been slacking off.”

“Sure you're not imagining things?”

“One thing I know I'm not imagining. Jack's _not_ slacking off. He's working hard. I don't think I've seen a pitcher who works harder.”

Crow laughed. “I thought you were paying no attention to what he does.”

Yusei frowned. “I've been trying …” He sighed. “He's kind of … hard for me to ignore, OK?”

“OK. Dropping it. I'll gather your cotillion, don't worry.” Crow scurried off, chuckling, leaving Yusei to grab a few remaining guys. There weren't many left, between Bruno, Dr Schmidt, and Crow.

Yusei walked in. “Well, guys, thanks for showing, I guess you all have a pretty good idea what Bruno and I wanted to talk about. We got a new guy on the team and he's a really talented player. Real Hall of Fame stuff, but most of us are all bent out of shape over it. I admit it, I can't say I exactly welcomed the change with open arms either. When he came in, it meant we lost Saiga, and we all loved him. He was a great guy. But, let's face it, he'll never be the pitcher that Atlas is.

“And, no matter what happened with Saiga, it wasn't Jack's decision to come here, and it wasn't Jack's decision to send Saiga down to the minors. We're all professionals and should understand all this. So let's get over it, be happy we've got a great player, and get on with a great season!”

“Yeah, blah, blah, you talk a great line, but the fact is, Atlas is one stuck up SOB,” said Ushio, the first baseman. “Almost as bad as you are.”

“I like him,” said Kazama, the third baseman. “I just think we need to get to know him a little, that's all. What do we know about the guy? Almost nothing.”

“You know,” Bruno said quietly, “if we hadn't all given Jack such a hard time, he might be sharing tips with the other pitchers, but he's not. It's taking him a long time to come around. I want him to trust me, but …”

“What does he know?” demanded Andre. “The guy walks in like he knows everything, but he's just got a couple of years under his belt. He's been lucky. And look now. On the best team and his ERA's gone _up!_ ”

Yusei was afraid of this. He was pretty sure Andre had it in for Jack, and Yusei had never really gotten along with Ushio. “So what? He wins. Give the guy a little time to adjust, will you? He could be getting a little more support from us, you know,” he said. “We've been letting our overall defense slip while he's been on the mound. He can't be expected to throw 81 strikes every game. His ERA might be up a little since he was traded, but he hasn't lost.”

“Yet.”

“He hasn't lost, and if we tighten our defense behind him to our usual level, he might not the rest of the season. Even the best pitchers lose sometimes, you know.”

“You coming to his defense now? I thought you hated the guy,” said Breo.

“Not like you. What is it with the Unicorn herd, anyway? Did you take too many strikeouts? C'mon, Andre, you're the one person who had his number, I thought. Don't you ever let it go? Don't you want to win? I mean, he's the guy who can put us over the top this season and you act like he's _persona non grata_.”

“Thank you, Professor,” said Jean. “But you know, herd, Yusei's got a point. We have to put all this aside. Saiga's not coming back, and Jack didn't fire him, Jaeger did. We ought to be mature about this.”

“Us? We're ballplayers!” Crow howled.

Finally, everyone laughed.

Just then, Jack walked in. No one had expected him back from the training room so early. He frowned. “Did I miss a team meeting?” he asked.

“Nah, we just kind of started talking,” said Yusei. “It's OK, we weren't talking about anything important.”

Jack looked around the clubhouse at his teammates' faces, then shrugged. He was pretty damn sure they were talking about him, but if they didn't want to spill, that was their business. Maybe this was good news for him. If they could finally figure out what was best for them, it was all to the good. It was beyond him why getting an ace would be a bad thing, but …

Let them be that way.

* * *

Jack skipped the team lunch buffet that day and headed out to the Heart of the Plate, a sports bar across from the stadium. Stepping inside, he looked around quickly and spotted what he expected. He nodded to the hostess and said, “My party's already here,” and headed toward a window booth.

“Hi, Carly, I'm sorry I'm late.”

“No problem. I know you can't control how long you're in physical therapy.”

Jack took three tickets out of his pocket. “For my next start. You wanted three, right? For you and your friends?”

“Yes, thanks, Jack,” she smiled. She reached out and for just an instant, their fingers touched as the tickets passed between their hands. In that instant, a touch of pink spread across Carly's cheeks like a watercolor tint across fresh, wet paper.

Jack felt guilt wash through his chest in answer, his throat constricting. He cleared it instinctively. “Wh-who are you going to bring with you? Anyone I know?”

“Oh, I don't think so. A couple of stringers from the office, that's all.”

“And how is work going? What are you working on? Have they still got you working obituaries and society pages, or are you working more interesting things?”

Carly blinked, surprised that Jack was showing interest in her work. “Um, I'm still working on those things mostly, but my editor is letting me do background investigation on some ongoing crime stories now. I'm hoping that eventually it might work into actual stories.”

“That sounds dangerous. Are you sure that—”

“Don't worry, Jack, I wouldn't get into the line of fire!” Carly looked positively thrilled that Jack was showing concern. “Oh … I ordered for us already. I know how busy you are, I hope you don't mind.”

Although Jack didn't like it at all, he said, “No, it's all right.” He scowled. “You know, Carly, I've been thinking. I wonder if I've been fair to you.”

“Don't say that, Jack! You know I'd do anything for you!”

“I know. That's just it. I don't know—I don't know if I could do the same for you. It's not right.”

Carly reached out to hold his hand and wound up gripping him around the thumb of one large hand. “Don't say that, Jack! You have a demanding job during the season. At least wait til the off-season before you worry about me, OK? You know that I—”

“Carly, please, I …” _can't let you tell me you love me_ … _not now_. Jack struggled for something to say. “You're right. I need to concentrate on my pitching right now. I'm so sorry.”

The waitress set an iced tea in front of him and a lemonade in front of Carly. He miserably sipped his drink.

Lunch kind of dragged on like that. Carly seemed to catch on to his distress but couldn't understand or ease it. After lunch, she insisted on hugging him goodbye. He sighed. Could things get more wretched?

**Chapter notes:**

[Some notes carried over from the original, partly in response to comments.] About Carly ... I've always found her treatment in the anime a little inconsistent, but that can be interpreted in several ways. One is that Jack wants to perfect himself and achieve his goals before adding another person into his life. Another is the way I answered the “Carly question” in _Satisfaction_. I'm hoping that she's OK here. Now Crow is meant to be for the relationship, provisionally anyway. (I don't know anything much about _Twilight_ or its Cullen character, so no association is meant.) I hope that is how it appears.

This chapter started out longer, but then I had to chop out a couple of pieces that no longer fit in the larger picture. Oh well. Hope I can post the next one sooner.

_PT_ : Physical Therapy

Kazama liking Jack: Consistent with the anime (also Ushio having not gotten along with Yusei).

_Unicorn herd_ : I've put Team Unicorn into the Crimson Dragons' outfield, where they're nicknamed the Unicorn herd since they're out in the pasture, so to speak.

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_Knocked Around_ : A pitcher who gives up a lot of hits and is removed from the game is said to have been “knocked around.” Basically a pitcher who has a bad day.

_ERA_ : (again) Earned Run Average - the average number of earned runs that a pitcher lets in per game. Earned runs are the ones that the pitcher is responsible for (hits, bases on balls, not fielding errors).

_81 strikes_ : The number of strikes required to strike out 27 batters, the total number of outs for a 9-inning game.


	6. Lights–Out

A couple of days later, Jack was getting ready for his next start. It was the first time they would face the Immortals since he left the team. Jack really wanted to make the guys sorry that they let him go, but at the same time he was looking forward to seeing Kiryu again.

They were the visiting team this time, and Jack had been assigned Bruno as his roommate. Not the most scintillating company, but quiet, at least, and not at all his type, so no problems were likely to arise in that area. Just the way Jack liked it. Easy to keep his mind on baseball.

Standing on the mound to throw his last warm-up pitches before the game, he glanced over his shoulder. Yusei seemed to have come around. He didn't know why exactly, whether it was the attraction thing or the fact that he'd confided in him, but there was something, some bond of trust there now, and moreover, Yusei seemed to have talked Crow around, too.

The pitching staff had made overtures, but they wanted him to share tips and tricks with them. But they'd given him the most grief about Saiga, so he had decided to make them wait before he showed them a damn thing. If they can figure things out second-hand through Red, so be it. He can say he cooperated.

And then, there had been that awkward clubhouse silence. What had the discussion been about—other than him—and what was its import? Had Yusei started it? He shouldn't care, should he?

Sighing, he threw his last warm-up pitch, trying to forget everything except the Immortals and the business at hand.

The game started well. He had a shutout going into the second inning and was already at bat. He grinned and winked toward Kiryu. No way he wasn't going to get a hit. He wanted to talk with Kiryu anyway. Sure enough, he looped a bloop hit over the third baseman's head.

“Hey, Kiryu,” he said, shrugging on the warm-up jacket that the first base coach handed him.

“Hey, Jack. You're killing us. Want to give us a break?”

“Why don't you ask your pitcher to give you a break? He's the one giving up all the hits.”

“So how's your new team treating you?”

“They've been …” He stood on the bag, staring in toward the plate, where Crow was taking his swings. “Huh. At first, they were bitching pretty badly, but the last couple of days it's eased off. Maybe it'll work out all right.”

“Your talent, they've no right to gripe.”

“Ah, they loved the guy the team sent down to make room for me.”

“Not your fault.”

“No, but he still made room for me.”

“Hey, want to get a beer after the game?”

“Sure … Uh, gotta go, Crow got a walk.” He trotted over to second base.

* * *

After the game, Kiryu grabbed Jack and dragged him to his favorite bar, a seedy little place down in one of their old neighborhoods in Satellite.

“Can't you find a higher class joint than this?” asked Jack. “They barely stock anything drinkable.”

“Oh, don't be such an elitist. You used to drink this stuff all the time.”

“In the old days I was broke all the time.”

“Look at you now. All dandied up, wearing earrings and necklaces, fancy white coats and boots, a dog collar, for god's sake … You don't even look like a ballplayer. You look like some sort of fluff punk.”

“Fluff punk?”

“Too neat and white to be full punk, dude.”

“I guess. I just pick out what I like.”

“And what you like is a little weird, man.”

“And yours isn't?”

“Point taken.” They picked up their beers and sat down. “I guess you've seen our record. Losing you hasn't done us any good. Morale has been low. It's like they don't care if we win.”

“I think they want to rebuild.”

“That's the kind way to put it.” Kiryu frowned. “OK, what's with you? You seem … a little down.”

He should have known Kiryu would catch on quick. Problem was, he couldn't really talk about it with him. As far as he knew, Kiryu was straight and he hadn't dared say anything to him about his orientation. He needed his friend and didn't dare risk losing him … especially with the situation in Satellite. And now, it seemed a little late to bring something like this up. So he always had to talk around the point. “I … it's …”

“Carly?”

“That's part of it.”

“What is it? You want to take things to the next level, and she's shy? She seems the shy type.”

“That's not the problem.”

“Then … she wants to get married alr—”

“ _That's not it!_ It … no … it's just that … I … I'm thinking it might not work out.” He stared into his beer morosely. “I'm wondering if … how to break up with her. I wish I could do it without hurting her feelings.”

“Really? I thought you two would be good together. You're so … you … and she …”

“What, worships the ground I walk on?” he said irritably. “Go ahead, say it.”

“OK, something like that.”

“And you think that would make us 'good together'? You think I want someone who just … adores me? Who agrees with everything I do and say?”

“You said it, I didn't. You're the K King, Jack. You're the one who refers to himself using his own full name.”

“Whatever,” he grumbled. “I don't care. It … it just isn't going to work, Kiryu.”

Kiryu stared at him, perplexed. “Sometimes I just don't get you, Jack. Most of the time you're really positive and confident, but sometimes you just turn on a dime and get … bummed. Huh. It's always dating.”

“I can't seem to get it to work, Kiryu. That's the problem. I'm looking for the perfect g—ideal person. Someone … special. That's all.”

“You know, Jack, you might not ever find a _perfect_ girl. You might have to settle for fantastic.” He laughed. “Jack, why the hell am I consoling you? You should be trying to make _me_ feel better. _My_ team lost.”

“Yeah, sorry, Kiryu.”

* * *

As they piled off the bus in Domino, Kazama pulled Jack aside. “You won't regret it,” he said enthusiastically.

“I already am.”

“But Jack, you told me that you didn't want to buy in Domino and your place in Satellite is too far to commute to. C'mon, my place is really too large for just me—”

“Why the hell did you buy it then?”

“My manager insisted that it was a great investment. I barely use half the space. C'mon, Jack. I'll let you pay me rent, if you insist! But, honestly, I'd rather you just crash. I could use the company.”

Jack grimaced. “Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?”

“Me? I'm not being nice. I liked you right away, but you know how it is when the team is being all … weird. I'm sorry about that. I could really use the company and … besides, I really want to make it up to you … how the team treated you at first, giving you the cold shoulder and all. OK?”

“Well, all right. I am getting kind of sick of hotel living.”

“Great. Let's swing by and grab your gear and I'll show you the place.”

Yusei, grabbing his duffel off of the bus, noticed the two and took a moment to look after them, frowning thoughtfully. Crow watched him. “Jealous?” he asked.

“What? No …”

“Yes you are.” Crow grabbed his wrist. “Let's go grab a beer and hang out, just like the old days. We can catch some action flicks at my place.”

“Yeah, but …” _I'm not jealous_ , he thought to himself. _And Kaz isn't gay … I don't think. He's not, is he? Damn, if only he weren't so good-looking_ …

“Yusei?”

“Nothing. Sounds like a great idea.”

* * *

The days leading up to Jack's next start went fairly uneventfully for once, with Jack settling in at Kaz's place and the team seeming to settle down into a routine hum. Jack was beginning to feel more at home as he hit his daily workouts. The other pitchers were beginning to watch him, amazed at the level of conditioning he put in every day. Bruno, in fact, was starting to ratchet up his own routine, as if determined to eventually come up to his level.

Jack was determined to stay at an elite level, of course. Without over-tiring himself.

Finally Jack's game day arrived.

Every rotation means one less opportunity until the playoffs, Jack thought. He was going to have to make every one of them count.

Even if he had to strike out every batter he faced.

This game with the Vipers was essential. They were going to be anything but easy.

Finishing his warm-up pitches, he pulled into his stance to face his first batter.

Strike.

It felt great. He had a good feeling about the night.

That feeling continued into the top of the fifth, as he had a shutout going and had hit a two-run double on top of it. He grinned. If they were stupid enough to try to pitch around people to get to the pitcher's spot in the lineup—!

Even the infield was beginning to loosen up behind him, chatting up a steady stream of insults toward the batter. Could it be that he'd finally start feeling at home here?

But no way he could get complacent against the Vipers. They had a number of hitters with good averages. The low-average slugger could hurt you with one swing, but Jack was good enough to put that swing into a different game. It was harder to postpone a hitter who manufactured hits. Get enough of those hitters together and, _voila_ , a manufactured run. Enough of those, there goes the game!

His job was to keep the guy off the basepaths.

Jack rolled the baseball in his hand, feeling the seams, as the lead-off batter took his practice swings, laying a baleful eye on Jack the entire time. Nick Tartopolis.

Jack discounted the rumors that he corked his bat, but he knew for a fact that he spiked infielders on the slide because he'd seen it happen. He really wanted to keep him off the paths.

Unfortunately, the guy was seeing the ball particularly well tonight. He'd fought the ball off and brought the count to two and two after fouling at least four pitches and missing only one.

_I'm going to get you, sucker!_

Jack considered whether he should changeup a little or a lot or how far into his bag of tricks he should reach. He didn't like to drag out special pitches for just any occasion when his regular stuff was working, but he this guy was wasting too many pitches. He needed to get off the plate.

I think I'll just drop the bottom out of this one.

Jack's sinker was difficult to lay off of because it looked like his regular fastball … that is, before it dropped like a stone over the plate. The secret was not to rely on it.

Jack decided, shook off signs until he got the right one, then reared up and let fly.

Just as suddenly, the ball returned with a crack of the bat.

Instinctively, Jack threw his body in front of the liner to his right to knock it down before he even registered how stunned he was that the guy managed to hit it.

He felt the impact hard against his ribs.

Gasping for breath, he grabbed for the ball making to flip it to first, but something was distinctly weird. Before he could quite make out what it was, he felt himself stumble as the world went black.

* * *

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_Lights-Out_ : An extremely effective pitcher is said to pitch lights-out baseball (such that the other team might as well turn out the lights and go home).

_bloop hit_ : A weakly-hit pitch that falls between fielders, usually between infield and outfield for a single.

_shutout_ : Zero-run game.

_pitch around people_ : Walk a batter to get to a batter that should be easier to get out, such as the pitcher.

_manufactured hit ... run_ : Taking advantage of small plays (contact hitting, singles, errors, walks, steals, etc) to get men on base and advance them around the basepaths a bit at a time. This would be opposed to relying on big hits like doubles, triples and homers.

_spiked_ : Intentionally hurt fielders using the cleats on his shoes (while sliding into a base). (Ty Cobb was famous for doing this ... after sharpening his spikes!)

_shook off signs_ : The catcher tells the pitcher which pitch he wants him to throw using hand signals. If the pitcher doesn't want to throw the pitch that was signaled, he shakes his head until he gets a signal he agrees with, then he nods. This way the catcher knows what pitch to expect (which is important for him to keep from dropping pitches ;) ).

_liner/line drive_ : a hit that is long, straight and fast off the bat.


	7. Staying Alive

_What the—!_ Yusei saw Jack plunge, knocking the ball down, then awkwardly grab it and flip it towards first. It bounced lamely over, but still managed to beat the runner because the liner got to Jack so quickly.

But … Jack was … he wasn't getting up.

Yusei ran over to his pitcher, who had collapsed awkwardly, face-down on the turf. He turned him over onto his back and realized he wasn't breathing. Immediately, he realized that the impact of the liner had stopped his heart.

A little panicky, he began to compress Jack's chest, stupidly humming “Stayin' Alive.” Basic first aid. “Get the trainer out here!” he yelled. He was vaguely aware that the rest of the infield had gathered around them.

But before the trainer got there and just as the infield started to arrive, Jack's eyes flew open, a flash of violet. He gasped for oxygen, gulping it in. Yusei held his shoulders down, as the large man struggled to push himself onto his elbows. “Don't move, Jack,” he said with urgency. “Don't you remember? A liner hit you in the chest.”

With that, Jack started coughing, and Yusei did help him up a little so that he could clear his lungs, letting him lean on his shoulder. “Are you OK?”

Jack was still breathing heavily, but he managed to say, “Yeah, I think so. … That asshole! He shouldn't have been able to hit that sinker! Give me a minute and I think I'll be OK to finish—”

“You're not thinking of finishing this game, are you?!” Yusei asked incredulously.

“Why not?”

“Your heart stopped. You weren't breathing!”

“Oh.” He looked at Yusei for a moment. “But I feel OK …”

“You sure about that? Let the trainer check you out.”

“Yes, let me be the judge of that, please,” said Dr Schmidt, who had arrived on the scene. “Thanks for the quick first aid, Yusei. You probably saved some damage.”

“You could have gotten out here quicker.”

“Sorry about that. I'm not as fast as you youngsters. Looks like you got hit by a liner? Exactly where did it hit?”

Jack felt his chest and found the sorest spot.

“Hm. Looks like you're pretty tough. That was hot and hit right … yes, right over your heart. Stopped it for a few seconds. And you still got the ball to the bag … pretty amazing.”

“Why did you do it, Jack?” asked Yusei. “Pitcher's not supposed to kill himself fielding, you know that.”

“Instinct, I guess. Can't help myself. Gotta protect the basepaths.”

“Well, whatever your reasons, I'm pulling you out of the game,” said Dr Schmidt. “You could have a cracked rib, you know. I can't allow you to try a full pitching motion without x-rays. You could injure yourself further.”

“Don't worry, Jack, you're the pitcher of record, and you can't lose,” offered Kazama.

Jack sighed and let Yusei and Kazama walk him off the field to the cheers of the crowd.

* * *

“Why …?” Jack was struggling against the smaller man, who was surprisingly tenacious, pounding against his chest relentlessly.

“Jack! I should ask _you_ that question!” Yusei cried out in ragged tones, without ceasing his pounding.

“Yusei, please! You-you're beginning to hurt me,” he protested, trying to remove the boy.

“Why? Why are you dating that girl? I … you know how I want you!”

“What? You don't … what do you mean?” He grabbed Yusei by his shoulders and held him at arms' length, trying to examine his anguished expression.

“I said what I meant!” Yusei shouted, twisting in Jack's grasp. His writhing was so strange and wild that Jack dropped him, allowing Yusei to move in and pull Jack's jacket off his shoulders, pinning his arms while he began to ravage his neck.

“Don't … Wait! You're not yourself. Can't we talk about this?”

“ _No!_ ” Yusei shouted, and pushed Jack violently against the wall behind them. So violently, in fact, that the impact woke Jack from his dream with a start.

Blinking, he tried to sit up.

Two large blue eyes confronted him. They weren't Carly's.

“Don't try to sit. You're still under observation. Let me put your bed up for you.”

“Yu-Yusei? What are you doing here? Th-this isn't my bedroom.”

“Don't you remember what happened?”

“I knocked down a liner, but there was something wrong. I couldn't breathe.”

“That's right,” Yusei said, sounding relieved. “Dr Schmidt had you brought here and they had you stay overnight for observation. They put you on a sedative to help you sleep.”

“But … why are you here? Did we win? Don't you have to be at the stadium?”

“I don't need to show until the afternoon. And, yes, we got you the win, in case you were worried about that.” He smiled. “The team was pretty impressed by the way you got it to first on your last breath the way you did.”

“You didn't say why you're here.”

“Oh, right. Can't a friend stop by and see how a friend's doing?”

_A friend?_

“So we're friends now?”

“Don't get all gooey on me now, Mr Independent. I dragged Crow along too, hope you don't mind. He's out somewhere hunting us down some coffee.”

“So has anyone said what the verdict is?”

“Yeah, you've got a cracked rib and they want to do a few tests to make sure there isn't any damage to your cardiovascular system. But Dr Schmidt said he thought I got to you fast enough.”

“Yeah, Yusei, about that … thanks. I mean … really.” He tried to look directly into the dark blue of those eyes and communicate the honesty of those words. Again he was struck by how similar and yet how very different his eyes were to Carly's.

“It's not a big deal. I mean, I'd do it for anyone. And … we can't lose our best pitcher, can we?”

“Well, my life and career is kind of a big deal to me. So thanks.”

“I didn't mean—”

“I know. It's OK.”

“Jack, were you … it looked like you were struggling a little just as you were waking up. Were you having trouble breathing? Do I need to call someone?”

“No, it … it was just a dream.” He felt a little color come to his cheeks. He didn't remember it well, except that there was a strangeness, a pounding … Yusei … and … he laughed at himself. _Guess Yusei's little thing for me must be getting to me_ , he thought. “I dreamed you were pounding on my chest.”

Yusei laughed. “No wonder, after I had to press on it like that last night. You can't be feeling too good right about now.” He frowned a little. “I'm worried about how soon you'll be able to handle a normal pitching motion.”

Yusei stood, took a step closer and laid his hand gently on Jack's chest. “How _does_ it feel, anyway?”

The sensation of Yusei's hand on his chest felt so strange; his heart seemed to respond to it even more strangely, pounding beneath it as though it wanted to burst out of him and make its way into that gentle touch. It came home to him that Yusei had saved his life, his career. His hand stirred a little, floating upward. “I—”

“I finally tracked down some decent coff—Am I interrupting?” Crow had appeared in the doorway. Jack's hand floated back down and rested atop the covers, not knowing where its intended destination might be.

“Huh? Yusei's just checking my wounds,” said Jack amiably. “You've got coffee? Please. I'm sure the food here is bland beyond belief.” He started to pull up again, but Yusei pressed his shoulders down.

“Stay. I'll adjust the bed.” Yusei bent down and adjusted the bed so that Jack was more in a sitting position.

“I didn't know how you like it, so I added a little cream and sugar …”

“Thank you, Nurse,” he said to Yusei. “And thank _you_ , Crow. I'm sure it's just fine.” He accepted the coffee gratefully. “Coffee was pretty much unknown in the neighborhood I grew up in. The smell of it … it's heavenly. This isn't even a special blend and …” He sighed. It just made him feel better. The scent, the warm liquid flowing down his throat …

Feeling eyes fastened on him, he looked up.

Yusei was watching him with an expression he couldn't quite read.

He decided not to ask and returned to his coffee, listening to Yusei and Crow as they engaged in some discussion of the day's events.

There was a knock at the door before Jack was finished with the cup and Kaz walked in, smiling. “Hey, Roomie, I smuggled in real food for you. I'm sure a growing boy like you can't handle what they're serving here.” He placed a bag on Jack's table.

He took a look inside. “A real breakfast and … real coffee?”

“Kona, just the way you like it.”

“Man, you're spoiling me.” Jack finished off the hospital coffee and pulled out his second cup. “Thanks, guys! I'm really starting to feel part of this team.”

“That's—”

“Hi, Jack!” came a bright greeting as the door burst open and Carly bounced in. “I brought cof…fee …”

Clearly she hadn't expected to encounter a crowd in Jack's room.

“Hi, Carly,” Jack said. “These are some of my teammates. Yusei, Crow, and Kaz. Yusei's the one they call the Professor.”

“Oh, right. Hi, fellas,” she said shyly. “I'm sorry, I brought coffee and doughnuts, but I only have enough for two …”

There was a general hum of “forget about it” when there was yet another knock at the door as a doctor walked in. He was an older man who looked to be about 60. Jack held onto the breakfast Kaz had brought protectively. “Don't worry, Mr Atlas, I won't steal your breakfast … although, it does smell awfully good.”

“Uh, please call me Jack.”

“Sure. By the way, I'm really glad to have you pitching for our side for a change,” he said, ruffling Jack's hair, much to his irritation.

“Thanks. Can you give me a diagnosis?”

“No problem. Yeah, you've got a cracked rib, but the really good news is that your heart is perfectly fine. No permanent damage at all. In fact, we should all be so blessed.”

“We should all work so hard,” mumbled Yusei.

“About the rib,” asked Jack. “Does that mean I'll be out?”

“I've already spoken with your trainer. It's cracked, but it's a surprisingly minor injury, all things considered. I want you to miss your next start and reassess. Don't throw at all for the next few days and then start some light tossing under your trainer's supervision. If you can throw without pain, you can work your way back into a full pitching motion. How does that sound?”

Jack heaved a sigh of relief and admitted, “Not ideal, but much better than I expected.” Carly let out a little squeal and gave Jack a kiss. It was a pretty chaste kiss, suitable for public, but Jack couldn't help noticing Yusei's expression hitch a little. At the same time, he couldn't help feeling a twinge of guilt deep inside.

As the rest of them, Yusei, Crow, and Kaz moved forward to pound him—albeit softly—on the shoulders, Jack wondered what was happening.

Is _it_ happening? Between _us_? He stole a glance at Yusei as they all clapped him on the shoulders happily and pulled back. Could it be Yusei is the one he was looking for? That _special_ _someone_?

“Uh, I guess we'd better get to the stadium,” Yusei said. “We should let you have some time with-with Carly.”

There it was again … a little hitch. Was that guilt? Regret? What was that? He wanted to grab Yusei and ask him what it was. Why did he have to leave?

He didn't want to talk to Carly. He wanted to talk to Yusei. He wanted to spend the day with Yusei. Really talk to him … really get to know him.

But Yusei was gone.

Jack tried to hide his disappointment by opening the bag holding his breakfast. “You don't mind if I eat the hot breakfast Kaz brought first, do you?” Jack asked.

“No, not at all.”

“Two breakfasts and three cups of coffee. You all know how to make a guy feel valued,” Jack said brightly. He hoped that it didn't ring false. “Tell me how your investigation is going,” he continued. If he could only change the subject and get her talking about something that wasn't him or romance … maybe she could get his mind off of all this.

She looked at him with such gratitude and joy that he could hardly stand it. “You wouldn't believe what I've found out!” she said. “It's all about how Don Piero is running numbers and building this incredible gambling empire in Neo Domino …”

* * *

Training progressed just as the doctor had described. Jack displayed an amazing constitution and healed with astonishing rapidity. Fortunately, the damage wasn't that bad, although it caused a fair amount of pain.

However, by about the time he would have been starting, Dr Schmidt OK'd him to do some very light pitching in the form of batting practice. Yusei could tell that the hurler was in a good mood to have come along so quickly even if he was still in some minor pain.

“OK, Jack,” said Red, “this is just a warm-up, OK? Batting practice. The idea is to let them make contact, right?”

“OK, Coach, whatever you say. Pitch it to 'em slow and easy. I can do that.” Jack winked and threw some nice soft pitches to the second-string catcher.

Yusei stood back of the batting cage with Crow, wondering how he'd managed to get into this fix. Now he was going to have to face Jack again? It wasn't every day that your ace threw batting practice.

He'd felt incredibly ambivalent ever since Jack had been injured. Something had happened then. Jack's heart had stopped and he could have just as easily died. At the same time, he was so unbelievably tough that, seeing him now, it was hard to believe that he'd been hurt at all. Yusei kept rummaging through his mind trying to figure out whether it was just the heat of the moment, or if there was something there that was lasting.

One thing he was sure of. The attraction he felt wasn't fading at all. If anything, it was getting stronger.

Since the day Yusei had visited Jack at the hospital, Yusei had occasionally caught Jack looking at him as though he wanted to say something, but didn't quite know how. Yusei wondered if he should try to get him away from the hubbub of the practice field where they could be alone, but, then again, he didn't. He didn't trust his own feelings. What if Jack wanted to tell him to stop bothering him? After all, Jack had mentioned something about wanting some sort of more serious relationship, and if he didn't see Yusei as that sort of guy _…_ But surely he didn't still see him as someone for a few minutes of angry sex, and that's all.

But the thought of a relationship was so _appealing_. Would it appeal to Jack? He hesitated. He didn't want to mess up the team chemistry that they'd worked so hard to achieve. He didn't want to hear Jack tell him _no_. Still, he didn't think he could hold out forever. Maybe he could wait until the end of the season _…_

He felt something strange and looked up to find Crow staring at him, smiling knowingly.

“What?” Yusei asked.

“You know. Just _do_ something about it already.”

“Start us off, Crow, normal line-up, then the second-stringers,” called out the hitting coach.

Crow dug in, and crouched low.

Yusei caught a flash of white from the mound. _Jack's laughing that Crow always shrinks his strike zone to nothing no matter what_.

A nice, straight fastball zipped in.

“A little softer, Jack,” called the batting coach, Ned Black.

“Take it easy. This is a warm-up,” called Red.

“Sorry about that. It's been a while since I've thrown batting practice.”

“No problem,” said Crow, digging in.

Several nice, slow fastballs later, Crow was getting a good bead on the ball and the hitting coach pulled him off to make a suggestion or two. “Prof, you're up!”

_Uh-huh. The man up there is not incredibly good looking, and I would not much rather keep my eye on him than the ball. No, not at all._

_Yeah, just keep telling yourself that …_

Yusei tried to make his mind blank and pretend that the ball was coming out of a dark, foggy area … _yeah, that's it_.

Oddly, his mind seemed to go kind of blank and there was little but the ball and his swing. He was getting extremely good timing on it and was starting to make great contact.

Impressed, the hitting coach yelled, “You're getting good wood now! Try to find the sweet spot with your next stroke!”

_Aaah!_ Yusei almost dropped the bat, but managed to hang on, gripping it tightly, almost choking up on it. He gritted his teeth.

He thought he saw a flash of white from the direction of the mound as Jack went into his wind-up.

_Go ahead, laugh your ass off, Atlas!_

He swang through, listening to the crack of the bat as it contacted the ball, sending it sailing over the center field fence.

“That's great, Prof! Kaz, you're up!”

After Yusei chatted with the hitting coach, Jack had already been relieved at the mound and caught up with him at the edge of the field. “I thought you were throwing batting practice,” Yusei said.

“I was, but Red didn't want me to throw too many pitches today, I guess.” He winked at Yusei and grinned. “You see? I can be cooperative when I try. Let me know if you need my help finding your sweet spot again. Any time.”

Yusei colored, trying to think of an appropriate comeback, but Jack was already headed for the showers.

“Where do you think you're going? Fielding practice, Fudo!”

Yusei sighed and turned to join Crow on the field. Crow ran over. “What was that between you and dreamboat?”

“Don't call him that.”

“So what's your pet name for him, then?”

“I don't have one. He made some crack about batting practice.”

“He was serving you fat ones. It must be love. He really found—”

“If you say it too, I'm going to kill you right here in the infield.”

“C'mon, Yusei, the way you look at him, it's—”

“Puddle of blood, right in front of second base …”

“You need to admit how you feel.”

“Infatuated?”

“Is that all?”

“Hey, infield! Break it up! Get ready or get beaned!” Perez sounded pretty angry.

“Crow! You're getting me into trouble!”

“So? _Do_ something!” Crow ran to his position and glued his eyes to the batter.

_Do something?_

He effortlessly scooped up a grounder and tossed it to first. He glanced toward the door that led to the clubhouse before looking back toward home plate.

A pop fly to third. Kazama ranged under it as Yusei relaxed for a moment and tried to imagine himself with Jack, just hanging out. Despite his ego, he was … kind of funny, fun. They had baseball in common, but he … well, he wasn't into science at all. Would that be a problem? Articles said he liked all sorts of activities: hiking, biking, flying. It seemed like he never stopped moving in the off season. But he wasn't stupid, either.

He was just … competitive, focused.

“Focus, Yusei! Fly ball!”

_Crap!_ He back-pedaled furiously and just reeled in the fly.

“I can't have you day-dreaming out there, Fudo, your glove is half of why we have you here! Do what you have to to work out whatever it is that's distracting you! Ask that girl out! Get laid!”

The infield laughed.

At the end of practice, Crow yanked on Yusei's elbow and drew him in close. “See? You have Perez's permission!”

**Chapter notes:**

_Staying Alive_ : Not only a song, a song that's used for Hands-Only CPR, check the American Heart Association web site. And not only that, a baseball term for a batter who fouls off pitches to “stay alive” at the plate trying to get a hit.

_healed with astonishing rapidity_ : Didn't bother to look up the prognosis, but as we all know from the anime, Jack heals inhumanly quickly, so I call this consistent. ;)

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_good wood … sweet spot … your next stroke_ : Believe it or not, all of these are baseball terms. Getting good wood on the ball means to hit with power. Find the sweet spot of the bat means to find the best part of the bat to hit with (just like a tennis racket). A stroke, of course, is the swing of the bat.

_choking up on [the bat]_ : To slide one's hands away from the end (knob) of the bat while holding it while batting. This gives the batter less leverage (power) but greater control.

_fly ball, pop fly_ : A fly ball is a ball hit high in the air. A pop fly is a shorter one (if in the infield, it could be more specifically be termed an infield fly).


	8. In Scoring Position

Road trip. The team carried their duffels to the team bus joking and laughing. It was pretty easy to tell that the Dragons had a winning record and were leading their division by several games. The team was loose and the atmosphere was light despite Jack's recent injury.

Jack, in fact, was already tentatively slated for his first start that trip, although he wasn't expected to throw many pitches before he was pulled. This put their ace in such a good mood that he was chatting amiably with the pitching staff in the back of the bus. Yusei had tried to sit near the pitching staff, but somehow ended up with the infield, toward the front of the bus.

_Damn these cliques!_

Even baseball teams had their little sub-groups. Twenty-five people, just like a little classroom, he thought, with natural categories … it was bound to work that way.

Soon they were on a plane flying to the home of the Vikings, one of their more distant rivals. They were expected to meet them in the league playoffs. Today was a travel day, so they wouldn't play until tomorrow and would have the afternoon and evening to themselves.

Yusei tried to keep from glancing back a few rows to where Jack was sitting next to Bruno. Crow kept poking him in the ribs to remind him not to be obvious. Finally, Yusei hissed, “If you don't quit it, you're going to crack _my_ rib!” and pulled out his laptop to watch a video he had stored on the drive. Crow just laughed at him … rather cruelly, Yusei thought, trying to tune him out.

Finally, once they got their gear stowed, the team began to break up to visit their favorite haunts around Oslo or just relax in their rooms. Yusei and Crow headed down to an upscale mall to do a little shopping.

It was an unusually beautiful mall, open with lots of plantings and trees, two levels, and lots of nice places to sit and enjoy the atmosphere.

“I know what you're thinking,” said Crow.

“And what's that?”

“You'd rather be here with someone else.”

“Why do you keep bringing that up?”

“Because you could ask _him_ , you know. You don't have to insist that he make all the moves.”

“Yeah, but … he knows how I feel.”

“Does he? He thinks you just think he has a great body. He thinks that you're just trying to get over a case of the hots for him. Isn't he giving you room to do that?”

“Then how do I know how he feels about me?”

“Why don't you ask him?”

“Oh, you take the fun out of everything,” Yusei said, giving Crow's shoulder a shove.

The two had bought a few t-shirts, and were passing by a little jewelry shop when Yusei said, “Let's stop here.”

“But you don't like jewelry.”

“Humor me.”

The little store looked like it had some unique silver jewelry and Yusei knew that Jack liked that sort of thing, so … he just had to stop and look.

“And what occasion are you going to have to give him anything?” Crow inquired, following him in.

“I'll think of something. I have plenty of extra money for this.”

“That's not the point.”

But Yusei was already looking over their selection of silver pieces. They had some quite nice ones, all silver, no gems, simple designs … Just the sort of thing that Jack seemed to favor.

“He always seems to wear the same thing, though …”

“Maybe he doesn't have enough to choose from, then.” Yusei signaled the saleslady and pointed to a bracelet with an abstract design.

“OK, fine, but choose your occasion wisely,” Crow whispered in his ear. “Don't just give it to him on a whim. I mean … you're not even together and you're buying romantic gifts?”

“I'm not crazy, Crow,” he said, reassuringly. But he felt like he had to do this.

The saleslady pulled out the bracelet and held it out to him. “This was designed with the modern man in mind, sir. Is this to your liking?”

Yusei held it over his own wrist and tried to picture it on Jack's. He thought it was large enough to fit Jack.

“We can size it for you easily,” the saleslady offered.

“Oh, no thank you, this is for a good friend of mine.”

The woman looked impressed, but pleased. “Then … you'll …”

“Yes, please wrap it up.”

As he headed to the cash register, he couldn't help noticing Crow's concerned expression. But the purchase made him feel so much better. Buying the bracelet gave him solid evidence of his feelings for Jack. It was like a promise to himself that he was going to do something about them. Just holding the box in his hand felt reassuring.

He turned to Crow. “It's for later on. No problem.” The two began joking as they walked out the door, when they practically ran into the tall man walking in.

Jack Atlas.

Only dressed down today to be a little less noticeable. Just jeans, t-shirt, and an old leather jacket.

The two dropped back a couple of steps, looking as guilty as a couple of children caught with their hands in a cookie jar.

“Yusei, Crow. Are you … OK? I didn't know you two were interested in jewelry.”

“Uh … I'm looking for something for my girlfriend,” said Crow.

Yusei shot him a look. _Nice save_.

“Oh.”

Yusei was afraid that the saleslady might mention the previous sale somehow. “Hey, do you want to join us? We were going to grab something to eat and watch some videos at the hotel. I know that's not very fancy, but …”

Crow gave him a look that said something along the lines of “thought you'd never be so forward,” while Jack took on a slightly thoughtful expression and said, “I suppose I could,” and deflected his path to match theirs.

Typical of ballplayers, they picked up a large selection, several hamburgers plus a bucket of chicken, a couple of liters of soda plus snacks for the movies. In addition, they got a little beer, but only a six-pack on account of the game the next day.

“So, what did you have in mind?” asked Jack as they carried their haul of purchases up to Yusei and Crow's mini-suite.

“I was thinking _The Dark Knight_ and _Alien_.”

“Don't you have anything a little lighter?”

“ _Kung Fu Panda_?”

“That's better. Or maybe a Jackie Chan movie? Something with some humor in it.”

“Are you saying _Alien_ doesn't have humor? I think the cat was laughing.”

“Funny.”

They deposited the food on the coffee table in the front room of the mini-suite. Jack disappointed Yusei a little by choosing the comfy chair, leaving Crow and Yusei to share the couch.

Yusei scuttled into the suite's bedroom to fish the DVDs from his duffel while Jack and Crow began to dig into their hamburgers and make small talk. As he walked back in, he heard Crow. “… he's going to be a biomechanical engineer, you know.”

“So I've heard.”

“… Which means, among other things, that he gives a really great massage.”

Jack said, “You know this from personal experience, I assume?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Yusei switched on the TV and slipped _The Dark Knight_ into the DVD player. “I'm not _that_ great at it.”

“How would you know?” asked Crow reasonably. “You can't really give yourself a full massage. Why don't you give Jack a sample after we eat? I'm sure he's all kinked up after the flight.”

“Jack?” Yusei asked, turning toward Jack.

“Sure … if it's OK with you.” Jack's eyes flickered over Yusei's and then to the TV, and he reached for a beer, which was cooling on ice.

Yusei figured he would need one too pretty soon, one way or the other. He was dying to touch Jack, but …

Did Crow think that Yusei could seduce Jack with a massage?

The movie looked pretty good on the relatively large TV provided in the front room of the suite, and the three tucked into their meal, especially Jack.

“Did I ever tell you that you eat an amazing amount of food?” asked Crow.

“Uh, no. Did I ever point out that I'm a pitcher?”

Finally Jack leaned back, sated.

Crow nudged Yusei and nodded toward Jack.

Yusei grabbed the chair from the desk in the bedroom and brought it in. “Here Jack, we don't really have a massage table, but if you sit backwards on this, I'll work out the kinks in your back and shoulders.”

Jack got up and straddled the chair cooperatively enough, folding his arms along the back of it and placing his chin on his forearms.

“Wait, let me …” Yusei said a little diffidently, and gently peeled Jack's t-shirt off, after which Jack resumed his previous position. “Now I can get to your shoulders better.”

But removing the t-shirt revealed the full glory of Jack's torso, the broad, well-muscled shoulders, the tight, defined abdominals …

Sure, Yusei had seen Jack naked in the locker room, but he'd had long years of training to de-sexualize the context and enough intelligence to keep a good distance between the two of them. Now he was about to touch this beautiful body. This was the reason he'd resisted working with Dr Schmidt …

He tried, with limited success, to stop his hands from trembling as he applied massage oil to his hands.

He needed to feel professional about this, but with Jack he just couldn't. He wanted a different kind of connection with Jack on so many levels. He looked over to Crow and tried to pretend that he was touching him instead, but it was a difficult stratagem.

Jack's muscles were so firm … just as he'd imagined them. He'd have to really press hard to work out any knots he found. Fortunately, once Yusei got started, he was concentrating on finding and working out kinks, so he didn't have much bandwidth left over to react to the fact that he was touching Jack. Still, underneath his intense concentration, he seemed to have a vague feeling …

_I love you …_

As he continued, the tension seemed to slowly drain out of the body he was working on and Jack's head rested comfortably on his forearms. Yusei worked his way down Jack's neck through his spine down to his lower back. Finally, he patted Jack on the shoulder and said, “Well, Jack, how was that?”

But Jack didn't move.

“I think he's down for the count,” said Crow.

Very gently, Yusei took Jack's cheeks and lifted his head, and sure enough, his eyes were closed and his mouth was slightly open. He looked utterly delectable.

“I think you should kiss him,” said Crow, noting Yusei's expression.

“I don't have his permission!” But Yusei was sorely tempted. Jack's mouth was so …

“Thing is,” Yusei said, “I don't want to leave him in that position or he'll stiffen up again.”

“Well, we're not going to be able to carry him all the way to his room … certainly not without waking him.”

“Let's try getting him into the next room then.”

Carefully, Yusei slid Jack's shoulders onto his back while Crow very carefully took his hips and legs. The two carried him in to the bedroom and deposited him onto one of the beds. Yusei covered his bare torso with an extra blanket.

“He must really be out if that didn't wake him up,” said Crow. “You going to take off his jeans? That would make him more comfortable.”

“Are you kidding? What would he think when he wakes up?”

“Well pardon me! Just trying to …”

“I know what you were trying to, and forget it! We haven't even had a chance to talk.”

“Speaking of, he might be out for the night. What are we going to do about curfew?”

“Why don't I call Corky? But one of us is going to have to trade and crash with Bruno.”

Crow grinned. “Perfect!”

Soon Yusei found himself alone in the suite with Jack.

He sighed. This was all too ideal and too impossible all at once.

He walked into the bedroom and stood next to the bed looking at the sleeping form of the pitcher. He really did look like some form of royalty … too young, really, to be a king. More like a prince.

At last he was alone with Jack, but he couldn't talk to him. “Jack …” he whispered. “I want to ask you so much … tell you so much.” Impulsively, he leaned down and pressed his lips to Jack's forehead, very softly. Jack shifted slightly, but didn't waken.

Reluctantly, Yusei prepared for bed and slipped under the covers.

 

**Chapter notes:**

Hey, thanks for the kudos! I know I'm just re-posting an old story here, but I really appreciate the support, truly. :) I've been making corrections (more than expected, actually) and smoothing things out as I've gone along, so hopefully it reads better, too.

_Oslo_ : If Neo Domino can have a team in this AU, so can Oslo.

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_Did I ever point out that I'm a pitcher_ : Pitchers burn through a lot of calories (note how Babe Ruth bulked out after he quit pitching).

_In scoring position_ : A base runner on second or third base is said to be in scoring position because if the current batter hits a ball into the outfield, that runner is likely to score.


	9. Out at First

Yusei slowly woke up to the sound of running water.

_Crow must be in the shower_ , he thought, turning over.

_… Crow?_

_Wait a minute._

Yusei shot up. _Jack was sleeping in the other bed, so_ —

He looked at the bathroom door. The shower turned off.

Yusei hurriedly dragged his fingers through his hair, hoping that it wasn't a complete rat's nest.

The bathroom door opened and Jack stepped out in a hotel-provided bathrobe. “Oh, you're awake,” he said. “Hey, sorry about falling asleep on you like that. I was completely zonked. I guess you have magic fingers.”

“Thanks … I guess. Crow volunteered to switch with you with Bruno.”

“I should thank him. Uh, maybe I should … get out of your way …”

“Jack—”

“Yeah?”

“Would you stick around for a little? We never get a chance to talk … you know … just between us two? There are … things … I want to tell you.”

“There are?” Jack sat on the other bed across from Yusei, and … did he look a little hopeful? Or was that just Yusei's wishful thinking? “Good, because I was hoping I could talk with you too.”

“You were?”

“Yeah, but what did you want to talk about?”

“Uh …” It was so hard to figure out where to start. “When you were laid up in the hospital, you mentioned that you didn't even have coffee in your neighborhood growing up—”

“You remember that I said that?” He frowned. “You … you want to talk about … coffee?”

“Not exactly. The articles say you had a tough childhood, but you never really elaborate. When you say things like that it makes me wonder … what it was like for you.”

“There's a reason why I don't talk much about it, Yusei. I don't really want to think about it. There are a lot of bad memories. There were a few good times, but most of it I'd be just as happy forgetting. You?”

“Crow and I were pretty happy kids.”

“And later? He's not …”

“You're wondering if your fabled gaydar is broken? No, he's not. But we're close enough that I could tell him everything I was going through, so … it really helped a lot. Jack, I can't help wondering—and I know how nosy this is … did you have anyone like that? Or …” _were you alone?_

Yusei just couldn't bring himself to complete the question, but he really wanted to know. He just couldn't stand the thought of Jack facing all that alone.

Jack didn't look very happy, but he looked back into Yusei's eyes seriously. “Why is it so important for you to know this? It's all … over. And I'm glad it's over.”

“I just …”

“I don't want to go into it, at least not now. Maybe … someday. You know how Kiryu and I are old friends, right?” Yusei nodded. “Well, he's had girlfriends starting way back and … sometimes he was the only reliable friend I had. We bailed each other out of some tough scrapes. We fought together, and … learned baseball together … I wanted to tell him, but he's my oldest friend and sometimes … a lot of times … he was my only friend. I just couldn't risk losing my best friend and … when things got better for me, it seemed like it was too late to tell him. 'Oh, now it's convenient,' you know? It's just …”

Yusei's hand twitched, wanting to reach out and take Jack's. Instead, he crossed the short distance between the beds and sad down next to Jack, pulling his legs under him. “I get it, Jack. I'm … I'm sorry I pressed you.”

“No, it's OK.”

“It's just … you seem so cocky all the time, but sometimes you …” Yusei sighed. “I don't know what I want to ask.”

“I get it … and I really need a friend.”

But right now Yusei felt like he wanted to be more than that. But maybe that would be asking too much. Still, there was something in Jack's eyes … or was it just the reflection of his own wishful thinking? Jack had accepted their invitation readily enough, but maybe he just wanted the company.

_Thinking like this could drive you crazy_ , Yusei thought.

“You know,” he said, trying to think of anything to push the confused knot of thoughts out of his mind, “when you got hurt, it scared me senseless. Why did you do that?”

“It's like I said. I wasn't thinking. I knew I had to keep the guy off base and I could stop the ball … so …” he shrugged. “He's notorious.”

“Notorious?”

Jack frowned. “For spiking!” he said, in a scolding tone.

_He was protecting the infield?_

“Jack … You know that I could have gotten to the ball.”

“Yeah, but … I reacted. I can't help it. That's how I _have_ to field, being so close in. You _know_ that.”

“Still, don't ever let it happen again, OK?” Yusei said sincerely.

“You know, I can't really promise that there won't be a liner through the box, but I'll do my best. Generally I can get a glove out. This one was … a little quick, even for me.”

“Fielding's my area of expertise.”

“Oh, yeah? Who has the Golden Glove?”

“This is my first year! Hard to win before then. But seriously … Anyway, I really wanted to talk about other things.”

“Like what?”

“What's on your mind, Jack? I often wonder.”

“Oh, I thought you thought I was a bubble-headed blond.”

“Hardly.”

Jack looked at him a moment and then blurted, “I want to break up with Carly, but I don't know how.” Then he looked surprised that he'd said it. Finally, he sighed heavily, as though he'd dropped a huge weight. “I don't have anyone I can talk to about this. Not openly. I can tell Kiryu, but I can't tell him why I feel this way.”

“Jack, now you do. You can trust me. If you want me to trade a secret, I'll tell you anything.”

“No, I just … I need to talk to someone.” Jack began to explain how he'd started to feel a stronger and stronger drive to find that special someone. He left out the part where he had been wondering whether Yusei might be that someone, but he watched Yusei closely as he spoke, catching every spark and glimmer in his eyes.

“So you can't just tell her you want to see other people?”

“You've met Carly. It's hard to break something like that to someone so …”

“So nice?”

“Yeah.”

“You can't just keep stringing her along just because you like her and you don't want to hurt her. That's how people end up married to people they don't love. It's … brutal, and …”

… _heartbreaking_.

Just thinking about it gave Yusei a sharp pain in the center of his chest.

“You're right. I have to figure it out. I think I'll wait until the end of the season, though. She's pushing me to wait until then before we do anything and … yeah.”

But Jack looked morose. The two sat in silence as the seconds ticked away, then Jack said, “There's something else. I … I'm not comfortable with my agent.”

“Godwin? But he's really well-thought of. High powered.”

“I've been thinking about it more and more ever since …” Whatever it was, Jack didn't elaborate. “I don't like the way he sticks his nose in my business. He seems to mean well, but there's something about it that sets my teeth on edge. I just don't trust him.” Jack's eyes had narrowed and he'd stiffened substantially.

Again, Yusei was consumed by an almost uncontrollable urge to lay his hands on Jack to try to smooth out the rigidity that had crept into all of his muscles. “You should trust your instincts, Jack. I can help you find a new agent. It might take until the end of the season, but any agent would jump at the chance to represent you.”

“Yeah …” Jack said uncertainly. “I don't want Godwin to know until I tell him. I don't want any agents to know.”

“We can do it after the season is over. He won't be able to do a thing to you. If there's anything shady, we'll nip it in the bud. OK?”

“OK.” Jack still looked worried, but he let it drop. “Let's talk about something more pleasant. I didn't want you to spend the entire morning listening to me complain.”

“I don't mind. It's just good to get a chance to talk with you.” Yusei hoped that didn't sound too sappy, but it felt really good sitting next to Jack and watching the morning sun catch highlights in his hair.

“I can actually be better company than this … I guess I …”

“Everyone needs a friend sometimes, Jack. Honestly, I don't know how you stand it, playing the loner like you do.” Yusei almost slapped a hand over his mouth.

Jack must have caught it in his eye because he said, “You're right, Yusei. I make like nothing bothers me. That's how you survive. That doesn't mean it's always pleasant. And that's why I've been looking for someone special to-to-to be with.”

“Jack …” _I want to be that someone_. He wanted to say it. It was practically bursting his chest trying to force its way out, but this was the first time they'd really had a chance to spend any time together, unless you counted that awkward time at the bar.

“Yusei,” Jack said, “I've never met anyone quite like you. You make me want …”

_What?_

Yusei wanted to know, desperately. He stared into Jack's eyes, trying to look all the way into them, penetrating past all the surface shine, into the dark violet depths to comprehend the true import of his soul.

_He's only a ballplayer …_

But the ballplayer was leaning forward now. Jack took Yusei's chin in his hand and looked back into his eyes curiously, running a thumb along his jaw softly.

“I want to wait until after the season to make any changes, but …” he said quietly, continuing to lean forward, “I want you to know … I'm seriously considering a certain change … but I'd need your help with it.”

At last, Jack's lips met Yusei's and Yusei leaned into Jack, his hands involuntarily reaching into blond curls.

They broke apart all too soon, flushed and panting from the contact.

Before either of them could speak, there was a soft knock at the door followed by soft fumbling. The door opened to reveal Crow, one hand covering his eyes, the other, outstretched and waving about like an antenna. He had a bag hooked over the elbow of the arm that he was using to shield his eyes.

Jack and Yusei stared in amazed silence as Crow fumbled his way toward the bedroom, his hand slowly feeling about before him at arms length until …

… he contacted Jack in a complete face-palm.

Crow squeaked involuntarily as one gray eye flew open between rigid fingers. His hand jerked from Jack's face as though he'd placed it on a hot stove.

“What are you doing, Crow?” asked Jack.

Yusei couldn't take it anymore and bent over, laughing, arms wrapped around his waist. “You should have seen your face, Crow!”

“I … uh … I'm trying to get some clean clothes.”

“Without seeing them?” asked Jack.

“I … just … I …”

Yusei sighed. There was no helping it. “Forget it Crow.” He looked at Jack apologetically. “Crow was afraid that he might be walking in on something. I'm sorry, Jack. I told him what you said … back at the bar.” Yusei was completely red now. “You have every reason not to trust me now, but Crow knows everything about me and … he's never broken a confidence. He'd never say anything. If he did …”

If Jack's secret came out, Yusei's secret would come out.

Jack stared at the two, processing everything. “That's … it's a lot to take in,” he confessed.

“But you don't sound really angry.”

“I'm …” Jack sighed. “I don't know what I am.” Jack looked at Yusei hard for such a long time that Yusei started to shift about uncomfortably. “I know how it feels,” he said finally.

“But …?”

“But … you broke my confidence. Still, it doesn't change the fact that I need someone to talk to. I'll have to think this over.”

The silence hung between the three like a cloud until Crow said, “Uh … I hate to break such a pleasant mood, but Bruno thought you might like some fresh clothes.” He pushed the plastic bag toward Jack.

“Oh, yeah, thanks.”

Jack took it and walked into the bathroom.

Yusei instantly turned to Crow. “Why did you have to come in like that?! We were …”

… _kissing_ …

“You _were?!_ Oh, God, Yusei! I'm sorry—”

“No, Crow, we weren't … _that_ , but … we were … getting on, talking, and now …”

“Oh, geez, I'm sorry! But I was afraid that—”

“Dammit, Crow, I know what you were afraid that! Do you really think I move _that_ fast?!”

“Well, maybe you don't, but how do I know Jack doesn't? He's awfully cocky, you know!”

“Yeah, well, he's kind of sweet and sensitive and shy underneath all that.”

“Huh. Who would've known?”

“ _Tch!_ ” Yusei was about to elaborate, but the bathroom door opened and Jack walked out, now dressed, with the previous day's clothes in the plastic bag over his arm.

“I think I'll go back to my own room and get down to the breakfast buffet. … Uh, see you there, guys,” he said and started out.

“W-wait!” Yusei hastened after and grabbed Jack by the arm before he could open the suite door. Crow, for lack of anything better to do, went into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

“Jack … I don't want to leave it like this. We—we were just starting to … get to really know each other, you know?”

“I know, but … and I get it, you tell Crow everything, and you trust him implicitly. Telling you something is like telling Crow. I should have known! A shortstop and second baseman are practically like brothers anyway, and you guys are more like Siamese twins … you're always giggling together like a couple of schoolgirls. I should have known that you were giggling over me. But that's not what we agreed to, is it? You should have told me, Yusei.”

“So … is that … it?” He willed tears not to well up into his eyes, but he really felt like crying. Or screaming. Or beating on Jack's poor, abused chest. … Or kissing him again, _hard_.

“No, but … like I said, I need to take a step back. I need to trust you. Both of you. Not just on the field. Off of it too.”

“Jack …”

“Don't you understand? As long as I can remember, all I've ever wanted to do was play ball—a long time before I found out I liked guys. When that happened … when I figured out … you were pretty much screwed if people found out you were gay in sports … well …”

Yusei looked at the misery in Jack's face and could only imagine that it was mirrored by his own. “You're screwed either way. You either live a lie and get to play, or you tell the truth and … you're out. For good.”

“Yeah.”

“But I've always had Crow to talk to. I can't imagine—”

“Let's not.” Jack sighed. “I need you. I need someone I can talk to. You don't even know how it's been lately, and …” he looked down and around, finally grabbing a binder off of the coffee table to have something to fiddle with.

“Jack …” Yusei said, not knowing what else to say.

“Just don't—”

“I promise. I won't tell Crow anything you told me this morning.” He stared down and Jack's large hands, fiddling with the binder. “I … you … mean a lot to me,” he whispered. “Already.”

He was afraid to look up, but watched the two hands as they put the binder down. One of them grazed his arm, then reached for the door handle and pulled the door open.

Then Jack was gone.

**Chapter notes:**

[Here are the original notes for this chapter, obviously posted on July 4] Hey everybody, thanks for reading and reviewing! Here's a quick turnaround for Independence Day! Well, this chapter turned out more angsty than I'd anticipated ... and I hope I didn't take the guys too far OOC, but once I got started, the characters kind of ran away with it and I couldn't seem to do anything about it. I hope that it works for you! BTW, this is actually going somewhere, it's just taking longer to get there than I expected.

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_Out at First_ : A double reference to being thrown out at first base (failing to get a hit) and to the euphemistic baseball “scoring” analogy used for lovemaking. Yusei “got to first base” because he kissed Jack. The double meaning of “outing” doesn't come to play in this case.

_For spiking_ : (I believe this is a reiteration, but here goes) A player who wants to harm the defensive player might slide into a base with his feet raised in a position to strike the defensive player with the spikes on his shoes (to “spike” the baseman).

_through the box_ : The pitcher's box. Initially, the pitcher stood in a “box” drawn in the infield. Later on the pitcher's mound was implemented, but they still call this area “the box.” (Not to be confused with the batter's box.)


	10. Make-up Game

When Yusei and Crow got down to the breakfast buffet they found that Jack had gathered his usual large pile of foodstuffs, but he was sitting next to Bruno eying his pancakes balefully.

“Did you drink too much?” asked Bruno.

“I had one beer last night,” Jack said distantly, toying with a sausage. “I just don't have much of an appetite this morning.”

“Well get over it and eat something,” said Red, plopping down opposite Jack. “You're pitching tonight, in case you forgot.”

Yusei placed himself behind the orange juice fountain to conceal himself from direct view and sighed. _This is my fault_.

“This isn't your fault,” whispered Crow, filling a glass next to him. “C'mon, let's get breakfast.”

Jack was rousing himself out of his mordant reverie on the other side of the buffet table. “Can't a guy not be hungry without having people jump down his throat?” he shouted. “Jack Atlas could beat the Vikes on an empty stomach! Sheesh. We had a lot of snacks last night.”

“What! You filled up on junk food? That's even worse! At least eat some decent protein! Gah, I need to get the dietitian with you …” Red started off on a detailed rant, much to Jack's annoyance. The rant continued for some minutes, punctuated by Jack's frustrated protestations.

But Bruno was laughing. “If we jumped down your throat, you'd be full for sure!”

_Yeah_ , Yusei thought, _he covers OK, but … it's a cover_. Yusei reminded himself that he had to force himself to eat normally, but his stomach felt rather constricted and tight itself. He grabbed some eggs. The scrambled mass seemed to laugh at him, their color reminding him too much of Jack's hair …

When Kaz sat down with Yusei and Crow, Crow asked, “So … how's the roommate arrangement going? Is Jack working out?”

“Yeah, turns out that once you get used to the fact that he refers to himself in the third person an awful lot, he's actually a pretty good guy. But did you know that before he played pro ball he was a notorious poker and pool shark in Satellite?”

“Poker? A- _and_ pool?” asked Yusei, stunned.

“Yeah. I never would have known except I have a billiard table in my house and he offered to play me for chores last week. Well, I'll never make _that_ mistake again!”

“But, he never says—”

“'Course not. He's a pro,” Kaz said. “I asked him about it and he said he might go back to it after his career—you know, turn pro in one or the other? But for now, no way, even casually. You meet the wrong kind of people, even if you just throw down in casinos.”

Yusei couldn't help sneaking a glance over his shoulder at Jack. Another thing he didn't know … He tried to picture Jack doing these things or what it was like … Using his cocky grin to lure people in, his poker face to confuse them … Having seen him operate on the mound, Yusei knew Jack would be an excellent poker player, keeping his opponents guessing what he held …

“Huh, you never know, do you?” he said.

“Yeah, but other than that, he's been great. The upside is that my billiards game has improved considerably,” he grinned. “But I know better than to bet chores or anything now.”

“You should set up a poker game for some of the guys,” said Crow.

“Nah,” said Kaz, “Jack wouldn't join in because they'd want to bet real money.”

“Not even small change?”

“Nope. He's pretty virginal right now. Very protective.”

“His career means everything to him,” said Yusei. _It's so important, it might keep us apart_ , he thought sadly. He took a bite of bacon and asked himself if he'd give up his career for Jack. Right now Jack seemed really important, but if the choice really came up, he'd have to really think about it. Chew it over. He'd planned on having a long career, work hard on his hitting and fielding. He wanted to go after hitting records for shortstops, maybe more if he did well enough …

And he was only just starting to get to know Jack. Of course, the more he got to know him, the closer he wanted to be …

But if they got outed, even if they weren't pushed out of the sport, the fallout might be so distracting that their careers might suffer … They might be separated …

“Yusei!”

Yusei looked up to find Crow staring at him.

“Pardon?”

“Is your breakfast so engrossing as all that?”

“Uh … maybe so?”

The three laughed. “Kaz was asking what you were going to do after your baseball career, as if I didn't know.”

“Oh, right. I'm studying to become a biomechanical engineer.”

“Yeah. A great byproduct of that is that he already gives a mean massage. If you don't believe me, just ask Jack.”

“Jack?”

“Yusei gave him a massage and Jack fell asleep, he was so relaxed.”

“Really. That sounds a lot better than the team's therapist.”

Yusei shrugged. “He's more than qualified.”

“Don't sell yourself short, Yusei,” said Crow. “Seriously, he's talented. Take it from me.”

“Aw, come on, Crow, don't spread it around or everyone will want a free massage. I'll have to start charging and who knows where that will lead?”

“Fame and fortune?”

Yusei got up to refill his orange juice and used the errand as an opportunity to check on Jack. The pitcher had managed to come out of his sour mood and was apparently in deep discussion with Bommer about working batters. Jack seemed to have very distinct ideas about strategy and sometimes shook off a lot of signs, which annoyed Bommer no end.

_It's good they're talking_ , he thought, allowing a small smile to creep across his face. But he knew that Jack couldn't be happy.

_Hope he talks to me again soon_.

* * *

Throughout the day, Yusei went about his routine of preparing for the game while pushing away a gnawing uncertainty.

During batting practice, Crow grabbed him and said, “You're even more quiet than usual. Sure you're going to be OK?”

He frowned. “Yeah. I'll be fine.” He sighed. “In fact, my concentration will probably be better than it has been.” Yeah, he could hardly bear to look at Jack after seeing him look so disappointed. He couldn't possibly get overly excited at this point. “It's Jack that I'm concerned about.”

Crow shrugged. “Well, it can go one of two ways. He has enough to think about just coming back from his injury, right? Besides, you saw Red. He had to push Jack off the field to keep him from taking batting practice today.”

“Jack always takes batting practice.”

“My point exactly. He's not letting this thing with you—whatever it is—get in the way of his routine, even if Red's determined to because of his medical condition. So let's hope it doesn't get in the way of his game. What was it you talked about that got you so tight that he's all in a twist, anyway?”

“That's not why he's—and I'm not saying, telling you what he said to me was how I got into hot water in the first place!” Yusei gave Crow a light shove.

“Hey, you two! If your lovers' tiff is over,” Ned yelled, “could you send Yusei to the batter's box, please? If it doesn't interfere with your busy social schedule?”

“I'm there!” yelled Yusei, trotting over.

* * *

The game seemed to take forever to get started. Yusei was very glad to get the warm-ups and preliminaries over with and settle into the on-deck circle waiting for his turn at bat behind Crow, who was stepping in to lead off the game.

Crow quickly got on with a bad-hop single.

Yusei walked up and gave the dugout a thumbs-up and a wink, hoping Jack knew that it was meant for him. He spotted the shiny red satin warm-up jacket Jack was wearing and thought, _I'll get a hit for you, Jack. I'm going to help you win this game!_

He smiled to himself. It made him feel better already. Even if Jack wasn't completely happy with him right now, he could at least do something to support him. He dug in, more determined than ever to get a hit and excel. This wasn't just for him; it wasn't just for the team. It was for Jack, too. Somehow that made it all the more important.

He tapped the end of the bat on the plate, choked up ever so slightly, and stared at Harald, their star pitcher, like he held the secrets of the universe. At last the ball came.

It looked … huge … like a full moon.

Yusei's hand just had time to slide back a little and he walloped it and took off, noting that the first base coach was already waving furiously. Rounding second, he took a look at the third base coach and didn't stop. A triple already. He took in the air in huge gulps.

It felt good to be moving, playing at last. He wanted to laugh, he felt so much better. He looked in toward the plate where Kaz was stepping in to take his practice swings.

Now all he needed was to move 90 more feet and get home.

Kaz fouled off a pitch, then took a ball. With the count one and one, there was a crack of the bat. Sac fly. Yusei was off running, an easy slide, and it was 2-0 Dragons, a nice cushion for Jack to start with. Yusei trotted in and plopped on the bench. Unfortunately, he and Crow were at the other end from Jack, but Yusei sneaked a look at Jack's face.

Jack wasn't looking his way and … damn that poker face! He wasn't quite sure _what_ was going on in his mind.

Still, he leaned back smiling. Jack had to be happy with the lead.

Jack began with the 2-0 lead and started extremely strong. In fact, the inning went one-two-three, with a strikeout and two easy infield bouncers.

The Dragons came up in the second with an out, but then Andre singled and Bommer hit a long fly that Brave made a spectacular play to save for an out. Jack gave him a conciliatory pat on the butt on his way off the field. The at-bat succeeded in moving Andre into scoring position.

Jack prepared for his at-bat with typical seriousness, then when he took his batting stance, gave Harald a huge grin, daring him to do his worst. Harald's eyes flashed, and he came at him.

Jack watched a searing fastball cross the plate without moving.

He took another practice swing, then settled back into his stance and gave Harald another knowing grin.

Back in the clubhouse, Crow nudged Yusei. “I don't think you had a thing to worry about. Jack's in the zone! He's working Harald just like he works batters.”

“Yeah. Guess he's one of those guys … you hurt 'em, it just makes 'em concentrate harder. Heh, I should've known.”

“What, that he's just like you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you seen yourself tonight?”

“Eh, fielding's been easy so far.”

“Triple.”

Yusei shrugged. “One at-bat.”

But Harald was in his wind-up now.

The contact of bat against ball sounded almost like a gunshot.

Harald gave Jack a furious look and then watched the ball sail over the outfield wall.

Jack loped in to meet the congratulations of his team.

The game went on like this, much to the dissatisfaction of the Vikings.

At the end of the fifth, Red pulled Jack. “Aw, come on, Red!” he complained. “I'm well under the pitch count you set for the game!”

“Well, that's good, then. Excellent. You won't have hurt yourself. Hit the showers!”

“I can do two more innings.”

“Great. Hit the showers!”

Grumbling, Jack headed off into the visitors' locker room.

* * *

Yusei continued to give Jack plenty of space, waiting for him to make the next move. Meanwhile, the Crimson Dragons continued to win, as though the limbo that Jack and Yusei found themselves in translated into some sort of good luck charm on the field.

At times Yusei imagined he felt Jack's eyes on him, but when he had a chance to turn and look, Jack always seemed to be looking somewhere else. He decided it must be wishful thinking.

The end of the season was drawing near and they were tantalizingly near clinching their spot in the playoffs. Tonight they played the Raptors, hoping that their lucky streak was continuing.

“Look, Ushio, if you don't shave that mustache soon, it's going to turn into a handlebar!” said Crow.

“And a very good look it will be on me, too,” he claimed. “I can't shave it yet, I have to wait until we lose, and we haven't lost yet. It's bad luck.”

Yusei laughed. “Your mustache hasn't been doing your slugging for you, Ushio. Although … it's getting long enough now that maybe it could.”

Nothing brought a team together like winning, and the mood in the clubhouse was light and optimistic. It didn't seem like anyone could give them serious competition.

Tonight, Jack took the mound again, looking more powerful than ever.

And was he—!

It was a short game, Jack ripping through the opposing line-up as though they were a high school team, and more than enough run support.

“Do you see the scores?” yelled Corky. “We've clinched!”

With that, the bench rushed the mound along with the fielders, hoisting Jack onto their shoulders. “You started this run. Right after your injury, too!” shouted Crow.

Jack didn't have too much time for celebration before he had to begin his post-start routine, but he stayed to share a glass of champagne … that is, after everyone was sprayed with it.

Then Red pulled him aside and said, “Let's get going before your muscles get cold.”

He said, “Sure. I'll be right there.”

On his way out, he caught Yusei's eye and nodded toward the door. His heart thumping, Yusei ducked out of his spot among the infielders and headed toward the hallway. The two found themselves alone for just a few seconds.

They stood together, about three feet apart, leaning slightly toward each other, the air charged between them. Jack seemed to be breathing heavily, but it couldn't have been from pitching. Not after this long.

“Yusei,” Jack said softly, “I've got to get going, but things are going too well. I miss talking to you. I miss you staring at me like you do. Things were just starting to go where I wanted and …”

“You decided to think about it.”

“Well, I guess I'm done.”

“Good then.”

“Good.”

“I'll see you. Soon.”

Jack gave Yusei a genuine smile, then turned and headed toward the training rooms at a trot to make up for the time he'd lost. Yusei couldn't help but stand and watch him receding into the distance.

**Chapter notes:**

[And the original notes:] Hey, All-Star Game day! No, I'm not watching. Sad to say, I'm still not as into baseball as I used to be. Maybe someday ...

[...] This chapter felt a little fillerish, but Jack and Yusei had to get past this little wrinkle and to the playoffs. I promise there's some interesting stuff coming up! Sorry about all the slang this time ... but, hey, baseball's a slangy, jargony sport, and I want to preserve the flavor ... and I don't think I can describe a game without using any. Plus (not quite so much here) I'm playing with some of the lingo ...

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_Make-up game_ : A make-up game is scheduled when a game has to be canceled due to rain or some other reason.

_shook off a lot of signs_ : The catcher signals to the pitcher what pitch (fastball, curveball, etc.) he wants him to throw. If the pitcher wants to throw a different pitch, he shakes his head (shakes off the sign) and gets a new sign.

_batter's box_ : The painted rectangular area on either side of home plate in which the batter stands to hit the pitch.

_on-deck circle_ : The next batter up takes practice swings in the on-deck circle (a round area out of play not far from home plate) while the previous batter is batting. The next scheduled batter is _on deck_.

_bad-hop single_ : A single that probably would have been an out, but couldn't be fielded because it took a “bad hop” or unpredictable bounce off the turf or dirt. Often a bad hop results when the ball hits the edge between the turf and the dirt basepath.

_It looked … huge_ : When a hitter is really hitting well (seeing the ball well), they report that the ball looks very large to them.

_first base coach was already waving furiously_ : The first and third base coaches relay signals to the batters and runners.

_90 more feet_ : The distance between bases.

_Sac fly_ : Sacrifice fly, a fly ball that moves the lead runner one more base over.

_the inning went one-two-three_ : Three outs in a row.

_you hurt 'em, it just makes 'em concentrate harder_ : You might have noticed that some of the best athletes play very well when hurt or sick.

_Red pulled Jack_ : Pulled him out of the game. Actually, Corky, the manager would announce the change, but since this was because of Jack's injury, it's Red's pre-determined decision.

_clinching their spot in the playoffs_ : When a team has won so many games compared with other teams that they mathematically cannot be surpassed by any other team in their division.

Ushio's mustache: Baseball players are famous for superstition. If a team is on a winning streak, players sometimes engage in strange rituals to try to keep it going.

_the bench_ : The players on the team who aren't playing in the game.

_his post-start routine_ : I understand that pitchers have elaborate post-game routines to prevent arm soreness, review their performance, replace glycogen, etc. Pitching is the most demanding position on the team (which is why a pitcher can't pitch every day). (Which means when Red said, “Hit the showers,” he actually meant, “Start your post-start routine.“)


	11. Pitching to Contact

The few remaining games of the season passed by in a relaxed atmosphere. Even the Unicorn herd had pretty much decided that Jack was OK … if fair game for ego deflation. The fans, naturally, were completely in love with Jack, chanting _K-King_ whenever they saw him.

There were also plenty of calls of “Hey Prof!” when they saw Yusei because his average was climbing north of .325.

Yusei enjoyed the extra attention, but the routine kept everyone so busy that he hardly got a chance to relax. … Or see much of Jack, and he really wanted a chance to talk to him, really talk to him again.

But things were going in the right direction for them again, and that meant that his distraction was back. Only now it didn't seem to mess up his game so much somehow.

“Hey, I say we have a guy's night out after tonight's game,” called Yusei as Jack trotted near during laps while the infield was taking fielding practice.

“I'm in,” Jack huffed.

Crow scooped up a grounder and flipped it to Yusei a step or two away at second and breathed, “Are you sure you wouldn't rather a boy's night in?”

“Hey, you're coming too …”

“Good point, that.”

After an 8-3 laugher, the three stopped at the sports bar for a beer. “Jack, Kaz told me you were really good at pool.”

“Yeah … billiards, pool, snooker, 8-ball, all that sort of thing.”

“Why didn't you tell me?”

“Well, it's not as though we've had a whole lot of time to tell each other our life stories and—”

“This I've gotta see.”

“But … I don't brute this sort of thing around. You see … in Satellite …”

“Kaz said something about—”

“Yeah … I …” Jack looked embarrassed. “I was sorta … on the streets for a while, when I was in high school. I needed to make some cash somehow … so …”

Yusei's jaw dropped.

Jack shrugged. “It was either that or …” He didn't elaborate. Yusei didn't even want to think what the alternative to gambling was, but he thought he had a pretty good idea.

“Jack …” No wonder he didn't want to talk about Satellite.

Jack smiled. “It's all over, Yusei. I'm a rich pitcher now. Let's not look back.”

Crow had a couple of cues. “OK, I'm challenging you.”

“I'd really rather not …”

“I insist.”

“One game. One. No bets.”

“A beer.”

“OK. That's all.”

“I'm warning you, Crow's not bad.”

“Not bad isn't good enough,” said Jack. “I'm out of practice, but …” He shrugged. “Go ahead and break, Crow. Otherwise, you won't have a chance.”

Crow had an excellent run, but eventually missed, allowing Jack to take over. Jack stepped in and began to give a clinic, quickly and efficiently pocketing the balls in order.

“Man, that was a thing of beauty!” admitted Crow. “Here's your beer. It was worth it!”

“Thanks … that wasn't anything special,” Jack said. “None of the shots were all that difficult.”

“You should show me some of your trick shots some time,” smiled Yusei. He felt a slight flush touch his cheeks, though he didn't understand why it should. He was just so happy to be with Jack, and Jack seemed so relaxed and happy.

Kaz stepped by their table, beer in hand, and Jack said, “Want to join?”

“Sure, just for a minute though. I'm joining the herd to go to the club. We've got to hurry if we want to get home in time to get our rest in. What we do for the game, I tell you.”

“No kidding.”

“It really puts a kink in one's social life. Speaking of, where's the girlfriend, Jack?”

“Carly? She's so busy on her current story that she hardly thinks about me right now,” he said with a trace of irony. He shrugged. “We're pretty much on hold until the end of the season anyway.”

“Really? That's too bad. You're such a cute couple.”

Yusei cringed inwardly and looked at Jack. His poker face hadn't changed, but there was a flicker in those violet eyes of his that made Yusei want to search them.

“Thanks,” Jack said, and then put on a shameless grin. “I'd like to think any couple I'm part of is automatically cute.”

While they were all laughing and ribbing Jack for that remark, the Unicorn herd showed. “Night's not getting any younger,” reminded Jean.

“Gotta go,” said Kaz. “I'll see you at the homestead, Jack.”

“No problem.”

“Speaking of the homestead, would you like to swing by my place and hang out?” said Crow. “Videos, games, food, stupidity … everything a ballplayer needs for serious time off.”

“You had me at _videos_ ,” said Yusei.

“Damn, you're easy,” remarked Jack.

“When the right guy's asking—” Yusei said, then clapped a hand over his mouth. “Did I just say that?”

Jack's poker face had cracked and he was grinning outright at Yusei, amethyst eyes sparkling.

“I do believe you did. Wish I had that on tape,” said Crow. “I'd give Jack a copy.”

The three headed out the door for Crow's place, laughing amongst themselves.

* * *

“So this is your place,” Jack commented, looking around.

“Yeah, make yourself at home,” said Crow.

“It's … big.”

“Heh, heh … yeah,” Crow said, a little embarrassed. “I'm planning ahead. I want to fill the place with kids.”

“Have you talked to Aki about that yet?” asked Yusei.

Crow reddened a little. “We've … sorta … We've talked a little, but … She knows I want to adopt a lot of kids, so it's not going to be all up to her, even if we get married, and … it's not like I'm not putting away the bucks right now … and … She's got the brains to invest it so—”

“Honest Crow, I'm not trying to give you the third degree!”

“Yeah, well, I've given it some thought …”

“Apparently!”

“This hasn't come up before?” asked Jack. “I mean, I thought you guys were tight.”

“Uh, we don't generally talk about kids,” said Yusei.

“Or Aki … see, she used to kinda …”

“She was interested in me for a while,” said Yusei, blushing. “We met her in high school, you see.”

“Oh, I see. Does … does she—”

“She knows about me, yeah, and she won't say anything. If you want to let her in on the secret, she won't say anything, I promise. It would make things easier if—if we wanted to get together.” Yusei scowled. “Damn sports, anyway.”

He and Jack shared a look. “Come here,” Jack said.

Yusei stepped forward and Jack pulled him into an embrace.

“Lemme rustle up some snacks,” mumbled Crow. “Yusei, bring Jack down into the den when you're ready. Remember we can't stay up too late, we're still on orders to get our rest.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Yusei only half-heard Crow. It felt so good to have Jack's arms around him.

Jack glanced toward the door to make sure Crow was gone and leaned down, softly pressing his lips to Yusei's. “Another down payment, Yus,” he said. “I've missed you. Did I mention that?”

“I think you mentioned something about that, but we've barely talked. I mean, really talked.”

“See how special you are to me?”

_… special … ?_

Yusei's heart leapt and he followed it, throwing his arms around Jack's neck, surprising him and causing him to stumble backward a couple of steps. “Am I really?” he asked, nuzzling Jack's neck. Jack struggled to support him. “Am I really special to you?”

“Yes … why … ? Oh … Oh.” Jack seemed to realize what Yusei was asking and became a little more thoughtful. “Yeah, I—I guess … I think that … wow. Things really are changing for me. Is that … Is it OK? Are you ready for that? Can you feel serious about me?”

“Jack, I _am_ serious about you. I want to be special to you. I want us to be … _us_.”

“Yusei, I …” One of his hands found its way into Yusei's wild hair to pull him into an even softer kiss. “Me too. … I think we'd better find that den …”

“Oh, yeah … right, Crow will think I forgot the way …” He laughed.

“Or he'll think we decided to just make out in the hallway.” He let Yusei down.

Yusei laughed again, taking Jack's hand and starting to guide him down toward the den.

“Not that I'm not tempted,” Jack continued, “but we really don't have the time to do anything until after the season … not properly, anyway.”

“I guess not …”

“I know … but I'll make it worth the wait, I promise.”

Yusei knew that Jack was right, hurrying would leave them feeling rushed and frustrated, but still …

It was hard to wait. There was the playoffs, and then—hopefully—the series. And then …

“Glad you finally came down here!” said Crow. “You like martial arts, right, Jack? How about _Hero_?”

“Sure.” He and Yusei plopped down into Crow's sectional sofa. It was deep and inviting. Yusei hadn't remembered how soft and yielding it was. He and Jack cuddled together to watch and found that it was very difficult to keep his attention on the movie.

Part way thorough, Jack noticed that Crow had started to nod off and pulled Yusei into his lap despite having his hands playfully slapped at. “No one's going to notice. If it's uncomfortable, say something,” he whispered.

What was Yusei going to say? He only wished he was even more distracted from the movie. He pressed himself against Jack's chest with his arms linked around Jack's neck and his face against Jack's shoulder, but who cares? He could always watch the movie later. This was heaven.

As the movie was reaching its climax, Yusei heard a yawn. Then, “I do have a guest room, you know.”

“We're fine.”

“I don't know if I am. Just because I'm fine with this doesn't mean I want lessons, Yusei.”

“We're not doing anything.”

“You look like you really want to start, though.”

“Well, I sorta do, but we can't really, not yet, so, sorry, dude, you're our chaperone.”

“Fine, just don't do the wild thing right on the couch, OK?”

“Would I do that to you?”

“I don't think so … don't know about Mr Confidence there.”

“You mean Mr Closeted?”

“I don't see you scheduling any press conferences, Yusei,” said Jack a little sleepily.

“Urk … Watch the movie,” Yusei said, planting a kiss on Jack's Adam's apple.

The movie ended and it was late. Yusei decided to stay over at Crow's house, but Jack headed on back to Kaz's. He and Yusei untangled with difficulty.

“This is a great season,” Yusei said at the door “… the best ever, in more ways than one. And … funny as it seems, I can't wait until it's over.”

“I know, but … you need to enjoy the post season … however far we go. People can go their whole careers and never get the chance. Let's make the most of it. You'll do great!”

“And you—” In the shadows like this, Jack's eyes looked dark purple. “You're always magnificent. It's like you put your whole soul into the game. Jack … you inspire me to work harder, to prepare better. To become a better ballplayer.” He scowled. “It sounds so corny.”

Jack reached out and traced Yusei's jaw with his fingers. “No, it … it sounds just right. It sounds …”

Whatever he was going to say was lost as Jack leaned forward and stole one last, gentle kiss and then quickly turned and walked away swiftly, as though reluctant to linger.

Yusei watched him go, then closed the door, turned, and leaned against it.

“I'm nuts,” he said to himself. “Completely insane.”

“I heard the door,” said Crow. “You finally managed to tear yourselves away from each other? Damn but you guys make a cute couple. And they say he and Carly are cute. Ha! Shows what they know.”

“Did I ever tell you that you're the best friend ever, Crow?”

* * *

The other team in the league playoffs were the Vikings, naturally. The Dragons couldn't wait to face them, they were so upbeat and confident.

And why not? They were on a roll.

There were a couple of days off before the series started and Godwin insisted on a dinner meeting with his young client. Jack wasn't particularly eager for the meeting, but accepted.

Again, it was at a fancy steakhouse. Jack thought how much he'd rather be here with Yusei, making plans for their future together, instead of sitting here wondering what Godwin wanted from him.

_Bleh_.

He tried to enjoy his salad despite the side of _bleh_.

“This season has been great for you. Did you see your final ERA?”

“It's around 1.80. I can do better.”

Godwin laughed. “Better! That's my boy! I'll tell that to them when I negotiate.”

“Negotiate?”

“Yeah, your contract is going to be ripe for re-negotiation soon. Didn't I say something about that?”

“It's not going to mean another trade is it? I just got used to this team. It wasn't that easy, either—”

“Don't tell me you're attached.”

“No …” He shrugged. “It's just a bother to get settled over and over. Plus I don't want to get a reputation as a journeyman. That can be trouble even if you're top talent. Maybe especially then.”

“Why don't you let me worry about the management while you worry about being the best possible pitcher you can be. Looks like we're a damn good team so far.”

“Yeah … you're right …”

“Now, about that girlfriend …”

“Do we need to talk about that? I talked to her and she doesn't want to decide anything until after the season. It's not like things are going to change. But, Godwin, it's not like I can exactly … you know how things are. What do you want me to do about it?”

“You're doing fine. I'm not asking you to do anything drastic. I'm just want you to be honest with _yourself_. And with me. Do you think you can do that?”

“Yeah, I can,” Jack said. _After the season. When I have a new agent, I'll tell you all about it_.

The thought made him feel so much better that he felt good enough to eat his steak.

**Chapter notes:**

Comin' into the home stretch ... Thanks to everyone who's stuck with me thus far. I feel like things are coming together a little slowly, but I hope you will enjoy the climax of the story!

_You're such a cute couple_ : Yeah, in reality I don't see guys bandying this phrase about all that much, but ... what the hell.

Crow dating Aki: Not really a couple I see that easily, but ... I didn't really want to create an OC for this purpose, plus there was the prior connection with Yusei.

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_pitching to contact_ : A pitcher is said to pitch to contact when he wants the batter to make contact with the ball, hopefully weakly for outs (rather than trying for a strikeout). This can take fewer pitches.

_his average was climbing north of .325_ : If Yusei's batting average is over .325, it's probably good enough to place him in the top 10 for the season.

_It's [his ERA] around 1.80_ : In other words, insanely good. Naturally Jack thinks he can do better.


	12. Trick Pitch

Playoffs.

The Vikings were the strongest team they'd faced since, well, since they'd last faced the Vikings. Despite the happy mood of team, everybody took a more serious approach to their game preparations.

The rotation had been adjusted so that Jack could pitch the first game of the series. That way he could pitch two games if necessary. Everyone hoped that it wouldn't come to that because they wanted him fresh for the World Series. But what good is he for the Series if you don't even make it there?

Yusei opened his locker to dress for the first game and found an envelope inside. He smiled as he opened it.

Inside was a card showing a little kid holding a bat. The sentiment on the inside was simply, _Thinking of you_. A handwritten message had been added below:

_Thanks for backing me up! —J_

He smiled to himself, and peered down the line of lockers, where Jack was getting dressed.

Rua trotted into the locker room and up to Jack. “Hey, a package arrived for you today,” he said, handing a smallish box to Jack. “Can I see?”

“Sure,” he said, pulling out a pocketknife and piercing the bindings.

“This is …” Jack said with a little surprise when he pulled out a jewelry box.

“Wow!” said Rua.

“Ha, someone knows what you like,” said Bruno, who was tying his shoes nearby.

Jack pulled out the bracelet and fastened it around his wrist. “I don't see a return address,” he said.

“It must be from Carly,” Bruno said.

Jack glanced down the line of lockers, his eyes meeting Yusei's for a moment. “You think?” he murmured.

“Who else could it be from? It has to be from your honey.”

“Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's from my honey,” he said softly, running a fingertip along the shape, the corners of this lips curling ever so slightly. “I'll bet it's for good luck.”

_It's a down payment_ , thought Yusei, turning away to hide the slight blush that he felt coloring his cheeks.

“You know,” said Ushio, walking by, “Real men don't wear tons of jewelry.”

“I'll put my contributions to this team up against yours any day.”

“If you played every day, you might have a point.”

Yusei smiled at the banter. It was good-natured now. Not like it was at first. It was strange that he felt the team's support for Jack so personally, but it made him feel invincible.

He stood up and turned toward the door only to have a paper thrust into his chest.

“Did you see _this?!_ ” exclaimed an irate redhead.

Yusei unrolled the offending wad of paper on the bench and took a look. “ _What?!!_ ” screeched the shortstop. “ _Jack—!_ ”

“Guess not.”

“What's up?”

Yusei pointed to the sports page headline, speechless.

_**Dragan Alleges Atlas Spitter** _

“Jack Atlas does not resort to cheating!!!” Jack shouted, snatching the paper off the bench. “Has he gone insane?!”

Yusei gently extracted the paper and read, “'Ever since our loss last loss to the Dragons, I couldn't get over it' Dragan told this reporter in an exclusive interview. 'That breaking ball couldn't have been a normal pitch.' Dragan says that he has it from an unnamed but unimpeachable source close to Jack Atlas that the pitch was, indeed, the illegal spitball. He promises that, should he see it during the playoffs, he won't stand for it. 'If I see that pitch again, he's going to hear from me. Immediately. I won't wait until after the game.'”

“I did _not_ throw a spitball. That was a sinker. A _sink_ … er. _That's_ my money pitch.”

“We believe you, Jack,” Crow said soothingly.

But Jack was ranting on. “That damn reporter didn't even bother calling me! Doesn't he even know his business?!”

“Jack, he wants to stir up controversy, make you mad, and then get you to say something stupid in anger,” said Yusei. “Probably call Dragan some name.”

Jack tossed himself down onto the bench. “Yeah … you're right. This just … things were going so well.”

“Just don't let it get to you. He's just … this just shows that everyone thinks you're unstoppable. They wouldn't even try to get to you if they weren't scared shitless to face you in the first place.”

Jack looked up. “… You're right.” He got up and headed in the direction of the training rooms, growling, “Bring it on, suckers.”

Crow nudged Yusei and said, “Are you sure you haven't created a monster?”

“He'll be fine. … But, what concerns me is who Dragan's 'unimpeachable source' is.”

“You think it's somebody from the Immortals?”

“Could be … but, why? As far as I know, Jack got along pretty well with the Immortals. He was a fan before he was a player and he and Kiryu are tight, so he has at least one strong supporter there still. Of course that doesn't mean there couldn't be someone who's two-faced on the team. It just doesn't seem logical though.”

“Could it be someone on this team?”

“That makes even less sense to me. It would have to be after our winning streak started, and who would want to undermine our chances like that? It would just be stupid. Would someone on the team want to shoot our series odds to hell just to get back at Jack? I don't get it.”

“Yeah, that's …”

“But anything else …” Yusei sighed. “I'll have to figure it out later. We've got work to do.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

* * *

Yusei was on his way to the training area when he saw Jack and Jaeger in animated conversation near the door.

Make that an argument.

“… not allowed to talk to the press at all until after the game, and that's final,” said Jaeger. “Our opposition wants to distract and upset you. And look! So far it's working.”

“Are you going to at least issue a statement?”

“Of course! But you're too busy preparing for the game and don't have time to talk to the press about meritless accusations. Which is exactly what these are, right? Meritless?”

“Yes …”

“So? Prepare.”

Jack sighed. “I do want to get batting practice in.”

“There. Go. Get training in so you'll have time for batting practice. A press conference will ensure you can't fit it in.” Jaeger turned and, seeing Yusei standing there, said, “What are you looking at? Don't you have a game to play?”

“Uh, yeah.” Yusei scurried over to where Jack was standing. “He's in a huff.”

“Me too,” Jack said.

“Wish I could do something about it,” Yusei said.

“You already have,” Jack said, briefly touching the silver bracelet he'd fastened around his right wrist. Suddenly his cell rang. Jack pulled it from his pocket, motioning to Yusei to stick around. “Hello? … Yes, I saw it. You think no one would tell me about that? … _No!_ Don't even— … It's not necessary, believe me you'd just be conf— … Yes, right. Let me handle it. There's no reason to respond at all. I don't throw that stuff. Let them examine me. Yes. … Right. … Unless the press specifically asks … Right. Thanks, Godwin. Goodbye.”

Jack sighed. “Like I needed that.”

“What did Godwin want?”

“He offered to launch a whole investigation into what started this whole thing.”

“B-but that's exactly what the Vikes are aiming for! Thank goodness you told him to let you handle it.”

“I just … Something tells me not to trust him.”

“I can't say about Godwin, but Jaeger's right, you know. They're just trying to mess with you. I don't think they believe what they're saying at all.”

“I'm not so sure. Dragan's pretty honest, don't you think?”

“Oh are you saying that your sinker's that good, then? Well, I've got to hand it to you, that's a pretty conceited way to look at it.”

“Con—” Jack just stopped and stared at Yusei, then laughed outright. He shook his head and gave Yusei a shove. “Yusei, you … I just don't know about you. Whatever … I'm late. I have to get to therapy.”

“Yeah … and I have to see Dr Schmidt.”

* * *

Aside from the usual playoff hubbub, the game began ordinarily enough. If the competition thought that accusations were the way to put Jack off-balance, they were mistaken. If anything, it seemed to motivate him.

Yusei stood in his shortstop crouch in high readiness, watching Jack out of the corner of his eye. Jack usually put on a very serious, expressionless face when he pitched, but tonight he seemed to have doubled his intensity. His eyes had narrowed, bearing down on the plate like twin violet lasers. The batters seemed to sense it, taking a little extra time, as though working through some nerves.

Jack managed to get through the batting order _in_ order one time.

As they hit the bench for the bottom of the third, Yusei nudged him and said, “Looks like you're making a statement.”

“Huh, I hope so.” He looked grim.

But Halldor was hanging tough as well and the Dragons had only managed to scratch a single run out so far.

Jack was slated as the second man up and headed out to the on-deck circle with grim determination.

“What do you think?” asked Crow. “Too serious?”

Yusei thought it over. “I think Jack is better off serious than jokey.”

“Yeah, guess you're right.”

They turned their attention to the field, where Jack was now striding up to the batter's box. Bommer returned to the dugout to calls of “Better luck next time.”

Jack wasted no time digging in and tapping the plate before pulling into his batter's crouch.

Halldor went into his windup and let loose. Jack responded with a mighty rip which met the ball with a loud crack. The resulting liner tore right past Halldor, barely missing his planted shin and sped in between the diving shortstop and second baseman into center field.

Jack rounded first, but had to retreat back to the base as the center fielder, Brave, caught up to the ball.

“Great!” said Yusei, heading out to the on-deck circle. As Jack shrugged on his vivid red warm-up jacket, he shouted, “Move him on, Crow!”

Crow stepped in and quickly laid down a perfect dead bunt. Jack was almost to second before Halldor could handle it, so his only choice was to go to first.

Crow headed to the dugout to cries of approval.

Yusei dug in with the crowd roaring for him to live up to his batting average. He was dying to move Jack across the plate.

_Bat, don't fail me now …_

_Patience_ , he thought. _We might have been having a little success this inning, but Halldor hasn't thrown a lot of pitches yet. Let's wait for the right pitch_. He settled in. He didn't want to keep Jack waiting, but on the other hand, keeping Halldor waiting wasn't such a bad idea.

Yusei worked to a full count, then saw exactly the pitch he wanted and drove it into the left-field corner. He took off running and kept up until he was stopped at second for a double. Jack made it home easily.

That was it for inning, but Yusei felt great. Helping Jack always gave him a boost.

_What could go wrong?_

Top of the fourth. The first two Vike batters went down swinging. Then Dragan stepped up.

“You see the paper this morning, Atlas?” he shouted as he stepped in.

Jack said nothing, but simply continued to rub down the ball, his glove under his arm.

“You heard me. I stand by what I said. Better watch yourself.”

If Jack heard him, you wouldn't have known it. However, the next pitch was a fastball, high and tight. Very fast. Very tight.

Dragan jumped back.

Did the corners of Jack's lips twitch upwards just a hair?

“ _You—!_ ” Dragan shouted, taking a step toward the mound. Then he thought better of it and stepped back into the box.

Jack reared back and let fly … his sinker. Strike one.

Yusei thought about it, seeing the movement he got on it. Yeah, he could see why Dragan thought it might be a spitter. A normal sinker just didn't move like that. He glanced at Jack. If anything, his intensity had gone up. A shiver crept up Yusei's spine as he forced his attention back to the batter.

_Damn_ , he'd love to watch Jack right now.

The pitch was coming again and damn if it wasn't even higher and tighter than the first pitch. Dragan leapt sideways, awkwardly swinging the bat out with one arm to keep his balance.

Then he dropped the bat and charged the mound. “ _That's it!_ ” he screamed. “ _You're dead, Atlas!_ ”

“What, can't you listen to a little chin music?” The infield quickly converged on the mound to protect their pitcher.

“You're getting a little _too_ close!” Dragan got there and tried to peel Yusei and Crow off Jack so that he could get a punch in.

“Did you say you were going to kill me?” Jack called, laughing. “Your fighting is as pathetic as your spurious accusations!”

“Cool it, Jack,” advised Yusei. The Vikings were beginning to emerge from their dugout and he was afraid that they might end up with a full-blown rhubarb on their hands.

The umpires were finally getting there, as were both managers. The Vikings' manager yanked Dragan out of the fray, telling him in profanity-laden terms to let the umpires handle it before he got himself ejected from the game.

Meanwhile, Corky settled Jack down. O'Hara, the plate umpire, warned Jack to cut out the brushbacks or face ejection himself. “You aren't fooling anyone, Jack,” O'Hara said. “We all know you have close to pinpoint control. So don't try to tell me that you slipped.”

Jack shrugged. “I made my point. Look, you said it yourself. I have pinpoint control. If I wanted to nail Dragan, I would have. If he gets hit by a pitch, it'll be because he steps in front of it. Don't worry about me.”

“That's a good boy,” said Corky. “See, O'Hara? Problem solved.”

Yusei took a good look at Jack before resuming his position. He looked perfectly satisfied … well, almost. He still had Dragan's at-bat to close out. One more pitch and a pop-up.

That did it.

Yusei shook his head. If Jack had been set off-balance by Dragan's accusation, he'd completely regained his balance and pushed Dragan back on his heels.

The rest of the game was fairly uneventful, if tight. In fact, it was a bit boring … for those who don't enjoy tense pitching battles. It ticked down without further scoring to a final of two–zero, yet another win for Jack.

Jean swatted Jack on the butt on the way into the clubhouse and said, “You didn't give the herd a whole lot of business tonight, but you can bore me any day, Jack!”

“Heh,” laughed Crow. “Took a while, but the Unicorn herd sure has warmed up to you.”

“Winning will do that.”

* * *

Winning …

“Aren't you coming with us?” Crow asked. “We're going to celebrate the win.”

“Oh, I had a few things to square away here. I wanted to check with Dr Schmidt about a little twinge I'm feeling.”

“Oh, I bet I know where you're feeling that twinge,” said Crow giving him a poke in the ribs.

Yusei scowled back at him and said, “Tell them I'll be along in a few minutes.”

“No problem.” Crow grinned and headed off after the rest of the team.

Yusei's scowl immediately softened all the way to a smile of anticipation … but … there was an undercurrent of concern. Things had been going so well for Jack, maybe too well. And they didn't know who the “unnamed but unimpeachable source” could be. Could that person have it in for Jack and was he planning more trouble? Whatever, Yusei put it out of his mind. One way or another, he was going to steal a minute or two with Jack.

He looked around in the training area and discovered Jack had a couple of cold packs applied to his arm.

“Hey,” he said, “I thought you'd be out celebrating by now.”

“I thought I'd drop by before I left,” he said.

“We can't really talk,” he said.

“I know. I just wanted to tell you how great that game was.”

“And?”

Yusei leaned in close so that only he could hear and breathed, “and I couldn't leave without seeing you.”

Jack smiled. “That's what I wanted to hear. You know … there was an anonymous fan who sent me this really great bracelet. I wish I could thank that person … in person …”

“That would be really … wonderful.”

“It's really great. It made _me_ feel great to think someone thought about me like that.”

Yusei smiled. “I'm glad. Are you going to be able to stop by the celebration?”

“Nah, by the time I'm done, Corky will have probably read you guys the riot act to get you to bed. You know him.”

“I suppose so, but it's kind of too bad that you can't be there seeing that you're the reason we won.”

Jack shrugged. He wasn't going to be modest.

Dr Schmidt poked his head in and said, “Time's up, Jack!”

Jack started to remove his packs.

Yusei sighed. The next few weeks weren't going to be easy. “I'll see you tomorrow,” he said.

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_spitball, spitter_ : An illegal trick pitch which moves atypically because of the application of a foreign substance such as spit, petroleum jelly, mud, etc. Other banned pitches include the emery ball (a ball scuffed or cut by an object such as an emery board) and the shine ball (in which the pitcher rubs one area of the ball more than any other).

_sinker_ : Note that there are a number of pitches that can drop suddenly over the plate.

_Money pitch_ : A pitcher's best pitch or the one that he relies on at critical junctures of the game.

_a perfect dead bunt_ : To bunt is to hit the ball weakly on purpose, usually as a sacrifice to move a base runner ahead. Most often, this involves the specific move of laying down a bunt by sliding one hand down the bat to the end to gain a great deal of control over the bat and placement of the batted ball.

_worked to a full count_ : Three balls and two strikes, the maximum number of each that a batter can have without either earning a base on balls (walk) or striking out.

_Jack made it home easily_ : In other words, scored a run.

_Top of the fourth_ : As a reminder, each team takes turns batting in an inning. In the first half (top) of the inning, the visiting team bats while the home team fields, then in the second half (bottom), the home team bats while the visiting team fields. If the home team is leading after the top of the ninth, they win and they skip the bottom of the ninth (since they don't need to score to win).

_high and tight/chin music/brushback_ : A pitch that is close to the batter and high; that is, close to his chin and dangerously close to hitting him in the face. A pitch designed to move the batter off the plate or intimidate him.

_charged the mound_ : Ran toward the mound to attack the pitcher.

_pinpoint control_ : Like it sounds, a pitcher who has pinpoint control has extraordinary ability to place the ball where he wants it in the strike zone. Nolan Ryan was noted for this ability.

_pop-up_ : A ball hit very high and within the infield (short).


	13. Squeeze Play

After that great start, the Dragons swept the series.

Jaeger scheduled a press conference for the day after, followed by baseball clinic with the team charity for disadvantaged youth that he hoped would be well-publicized. The entire team was expected to pitch in. Crow, of course, signed up with enthusiasm and Jack was more than happy to show off for a horde of adoring fans. Yusei didn't mind going along for the ride.

“Are you aware of your post-season stats so far, Professor?” asked Angela, reporter for _Baseball Today_.

“I seem to be doing pretty good. Seeing the ball well.”

“You're hitting .485 post season. When Jack Atlas is pitching, you're hitting .637. And when he's on base, you're hitting .750. Would you care to comment on that?”

Yusei felt a little flush threatening and said, “We have a friendly rivalry going. I know he's a pitcher, but he's an amazing talent. I can't help but feel my competitive spirit rise to the occasion when he's pitching.”

“You say 'friendly.' I have a question for the K-King, himself. You pitched for the Dragons' biggest rivals not so long ago. Would you say that you and the Professor are good friends?”

Jack cleared his throat. “I'll admit that it took a little while for the Dragons to warm up to me, but the guys seem to enjoy winning.” He paused as the room chuckled at his observation. “Yes, Yusei and I are friendly. And I'd say that it helps me compete even harder to be surrounded by such inspiring talent.”

Yusei smiled to himself. Jack had managed to make himself look good and give the team a lift at the same time.

“About the team, Jack,” Angela continued. “I understand that you're renting a room from third baseman Kaz Kazama?”

“Well, yes. Since I moved here midseason, house hunting was impractical and distracting. Besides, I have a great place in Satellite. I'm really not sure I want to give that up. I might get a modest apartment for the season next year.”

“An apartment?”

“Yes, I don't spend a lot of time sitting around home during the season.”

“I see. Bruno, I have a question for you. You used to be the top pitcher on the team before the K-King showed up. Did it bother you to become second banana?”

“Look, you might as well ask me whether it bothers me that we're headed for the Big Show. No, it doesn't bother me at all. I like the idea of pitching in the Series. I've learned a lot from Jack and I hope to learn more.”

Angela looked a little miffed to have been unable to stir up any controversy. “Another question for Jack. You've heard Dragan's accusations about your throwing spitballs. Any comments?”

“Only that I've never thrown that pitch. I don't have to, so why should I? The umpires can examine me any time they want to.”

They tried to move the questions toward the charity that they were sponsoring and the kids, with little success. Then they moved on to the mini-clinic.

Crow was completely in his element. He quickly had the kids eating out of his hand and set up with simple fun drills and activities. Jack was inundated with autograph requests and stood signing a pile of pennants, caps, and baseballs. Yusei was pestered almost as much and saw his signature joining Jack's on many collectibles.

A cute little boy with red hair pushed a magazine in front of Yusei.

It was open to a picture of himself with Jack. He frowned just slightly, trying to remember when it might have been taken. Then he remembered. It was for a magazine spread for league leaders. Jack's ERA and his batting average. It showed Yusei holding his bat on his shoulder and Jack holding a ball in glove, both of them smiling confidently at the camera.

He paused for a moment. He hadn't realized how well the photo turned out. He should call the magazine and get a copy.

“Aren't you going to sign it for me, Mr Prof?” the boy asked anxiously.

“Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I just hadn't read the article yet. I've been so busy.”

“You haven't?! It's really inneresting! You gotta getta copy and read about it!”

Yusei chuckled as he signed the magazine. He lived it, after all. It was interesting?

_You don't know the half of it, kid …_

He glanced over toward Jack, who was demonstrating various pitching grips to a child not far away.

_You're not getting away this time_ , he thought. _They've given us the afternoon and all of tomorrow off, and …_

_I'm spending some time with you and that's it._

* * *

He, Jack, and Crow helped load the kids onto the buses and decided to have lunch together. “You're paying, Jack. You eat the most, anyway,” Crow said.

For a change of pace, they headed out to a seafood restaurant for a real celebration.

“Jack …” Yusei said as they settled into their salads, “Did you make any plans with … with Carly for your day off?”

Jack colored a little. “Well, things are on hold until after the series, but I'm planning on seeing her after lunch. We're going to dinner.”

“Oh …” said Yusei, disappointed. “And tomorrow?”

“Totally free. I was planning on taking it easy.”

“So … you don't have plans then?”

“Well, no.”

“Well, that's great, then,” said Crow. “You want to come with us? We were going to play a round of golf. Uh … you're not secretly a golf sharp, are you?”

Jack laughed. “How many golf courses do you think there are in Satellite, anyway?”

“Good point.”

“I didn't grow up in tennis court and country club country, Crow.”

“You haven't said,” urged Yusei. “Do you want to play? Do you play golf?”

“Well, I've been shown the basics, but I've hardly ever touched a club. You might have to bear with me.”

Yusei grinned. “Crow will be happy to. He wants to play you at a game he can actually beat you at.”

Crow reddened and said, “Hey! … Well, you do have a point.”

They made the arrangements.

Yusei and Crow headed off together and Jack laughed. “Do you two always go everywhere together like Heckle and Jeckle?” he asked.

“Oh, right,” said Yusei. “You don't know. My house is right next door to Crow's.”

“Only his is small and boring,” said Crow.

“I don't see how it could be boring,” said Jack, giving Yusei a brilliant smile. “See you tomorrow for golf.”

_Damn, that's a swoonworthy smile_ , thought Yusei.

* * *

Jack leaned over Carly's desk, chuckling softly. She was so engrossed in her typing that she didn't even notice his presence. “Ahem.”

“Jack!” Carly stood so suddenly that papers scattered from her desk and went flying. Heedless of the mayhem, she launched herself across it and wrapped her arms around Jack's neck. “I've missed you so!” she cried, covering his face with kisses.

Jack, stunned by the reception, pulled Carly up and over the desk and up into his arms, delighting her. Then he placed her on the floor. “You know, he said, you could kick your laptop off the desk, and then where would you be?”

“Oh—!” she said as though it was the first time it had occurred to her. “If I lost the scoop I'd got on this story, my boss would _kill_ me!”

“You don't have it backed up?”

“Not all of it. And the word is, something _big's_ about to go down.”

“Don't tell me about it, I don't want to know. Not until it hits the papers.”

“You don't? But all my other friends are begging to know, and I can't tell a soul. Not until we publish.”

Jack gave her a small smile. “I'm fine waiting to read about it in the papers. But you said you could take at least a couple of hours off.”

“Yeah.” Carly looked over her shoulder, then pulled Jack out of the reporter's bullpen. “I'm just not going to tell the boss. As far as he knows,” she said, winking at Jack, “I'm reporting. And why not? Maybe I can get background information from you. Let me know what you think of Don Piero's criminal empire.”

“I'm no expert on criminal activity,” Jack laughed, “but obviously I'm not in favor of it. That's off the record, though. Why would anyone want my opinion on that subject? It has no connection to what I do.”

“People bet on ballgames, don't they?”

“Oh,” Jack sighed. They began to walk out to Carly's car. “I guess they do. I don't think about that.” He laughed again. “That must be because I'd always bet on myself!”

Carly gave his shoulder a playful push.

“So what do you want to do?” asked Jack. “I suppose I should have planned something, but I've been so busy. Do you want to see a movie?”

“No, I want to be able to talk to you.”

That worried Jack. He should have said he'd planned on a movie. “All right,” he said slowly.

They found themselves at a little bar and grill. Carly was much more comfortable there than at a fancy restaurant and Jack felt like he was stringing her along enough as it was. Carly sat across from Jack with her chef's salad and eyed Jack's three large hamburgers and side of cheese fries with open amazement.

_Yeah_ , he thought. _I'm eating up the hamburgers, but guilt's eating at me!_

“How can you eat all that?” asked Carly.

“I burn a lot of calories,” Jack said automatically. “So, this story … what happens if it hits big and makes your career?”

“What do you mean?”

“Will you have time for—”

“Oh, you're asking if I'll have time for us!” Carly said. “Oh, Jack! How sweet of you to worry!”

_Or hope? Sweet, nothing!_

“I'm going to do my best! You never know. Your schedule is so demanding during the summer, I don't know how any baseball wife who works does it.”

“You know, most of them don't. Work, that is. They don't have to, you know.”

“Right,” Carly said uncertainly. “You all make so much.”

“But … you like your job so much, don't you?”

“Yeah, I really do. Helping people is really important to me, Jack.”

They sat eating in silence for a while, lost in their respective thoughts.

* * *

Yusei and Crow drove to Kaz's place to pick up Jack the next morning.

“So,” asked Crow. “Are you planning on seducing Jack using a golf club?”

“Crow!” Yusei exclaimed, then admitted, “Actually, I was going to wait and see if he'd make a move before I made mine. I don't think I can wait until after the series.”

Crow laughed. “Tell me again why you're waiting?”

“You know how it is during the season. There's no time to really relax and take your time with anything. When's the last time you had a nice date with Aki?”

“Eh, well, you know, between the ballpark and her residency …”

“See?”

“I totally get it. But you're on the same schedule.”

“As a pitcher? I am so not.”

“OK, I get it,” Crow said. “But you still want to try to wedge some, er, quality time in?”

“If I can.”

“Need any help? I don't know how good a wingman I am, but I can try.”

“I think I can handle it. After all, it's not like Jack isn't willing. At least I'm pretty sure he is.”

“Oh, I don't think you have to worry about that.” Crow paused, then asked, “You think he has a superstition about these things?”

“God, I hope not! If he does, next season could be a nightmare!”

They had arrived at Kaz's and Jack was already out, sitting on the porch with his feet up on the railing, drinking a cup of coffee.

Soon Jack had rented some clubs and they were out on the links.

“So, you've done this before?” asked Yusei.

“Not for a long time,” said Jack.

“It's a lot easier than hitting a baseball,” offered Crow. “The ball might be smaller, but it at least has the decency to sit still for you!”

“Shut up, Crow, if we played T-ball, Jack would be out of a job!”

“Hah! I'd just hit a home run every time up, that's all,” said Jack. “Games would be a lot more boring, though.”

Yusei teed off first, demonstrating the golf swing, then Jack took a couple of practice swings and tried teeing off. Yusei stood back, watching the long body twist and coil. He wondered if he'd ever tire of the sight of watching Jack move. He was like some large, lithe jungle cat.

“Crow? Your turn.”

“Heh, you're in the rough, Jack!”

“His form's not bad, though, he'll improve quickly.”

“You should know all about his form, you were watching closely enough!” Crow took his swing, placing his nicely on the fairway.

With Yusei's help, Jack managed to move his ball to the green, where Yusei refreshed Jack's memory of how to grip the putter.

“This is an awfully complicated way to hang onto a handle,” he complained.

“You're telling me, but that's the way they say to do it for the best results,” Yusei said. “But, geez, Jack, with some of the grips you use on baseballs, you're one to complain.”

“Maybe, but this still seems ridiculously fancy. Too bad I can't just get a cue out.” Nevertheless, he managed to knock the ball in without much trouble.

Just as Yusei predicted, Jack improved steadily as they played, although he trailed the other two by a fair margin.

About half-way through the round, Crow nabbed Yusei as they walked to the next tee. “So? Are you just going to admire the man all day? We're all going to be back at the park tomorrow, prepping full time, and then, day after, the series starts.”

“Yeah … and that's a lot of pressure.”

“Which is never going to get released if you don't do anything about it.”

Jack caught up with them just then. “What are you two nattering about now?”

“Er, nothing.”

“Chang and Eng,” he muttered, shaking his head, passing by.

“Think he's jealous?” asked Crow.

Yusei found himself distracted on the next tee. His ball hit the green, then slowly dribbled backward into the same sand trap that Jack had bounced into.

They trudged on down to toward the green. “Looks like you're trapped together,” said Crow. “Me, I'll meet you on the green.”

“Go ahead, rub it in,” said Yusei.

Crow moved off toward the green as Yusei and Jack checked out the sand trap. “Look,” said Jack, “your ball is still way up on the lip.”

Yusei looked, and sure enough, his ball had settled into a divot left by someone who had clambered straight up the side of the trap. “Heh, I'll play it where it lies,” he said.

“You sure? It's pretty steep right there.”

“No problem. If you let me go first.”

“I insist.”

Yusei headed up, careful not to disturb the sand around the ball. It would be a simple chip shot up onto the green, if he could get good footing. He carefully placed his feet, his position stretched awkwardly to accommodate the slope, drew his club back, balanced with care, then brought it through with power and grace. A perfect shot!

It was only after that he stumbled awkwardly down the slope, feet tangling in the sand. Finally, he collided with a solid object that grabbed onto and held him firmly. He looked up into concerned violet eyes. “Nice catch.”

“Careful,” Jack said. “Watch it, you're about to touch my ball.”

“I … what?”

But Jack suddenly slid a hand under his glutes and lifted him bodily. “You almost kicked my ball.”

Yusei looked down. _His golf ball. Right._ His cheeks burning, he looked back at Jack, who looked like he was trying not to laugh. “You can put me down now.”

Jack chuckled and let him down. “You sure?” Yes, there was definitely a twinkle in those violet depths.

“Well, no, but we are at a golf course.”

“Yeah, I guess I'd better try to get this ball on the green,” Jack said. He set Yusei down gently, well away from his ball. Then Jack took a great cut that sent the ball flying easily over the edge of the trap onto the green.

They heard Crow's voice, “About time!” in response.

Laughing, they scrambled up the hill onto the green.

Yusei and Jack were now more interested in distracting each other than paying attention to their game, so their scores inflated rapidly—much to Crow's delight. By the time they ambled into the clubhouse for lunch, Crow had a huge lead, not that his companions were paying much attention to the score by that time.

Crow elbowed his way in between the two, muttering, “You guys really need to get a room,” in a voice designed to be heard only by his companions. He walked up to the hostess, and shot a them a look. “I'm serious.”

Yusei looked at Jack, who'd simply walked up two wait behind Crow. _Get a room? What a great idea!_ If only he could figure out what Jack was thinking.

Lunch ended up being a little awkward. Yusei found himself worrying so much about how he could get Jack relaxed enough to spend the afternoon at his house that he couldn't figure out what to say and he felt the tension rising. Crow spent the meal trying to keep the conversation going and kicking him at random intervals under the table.

“And Jack—” _kick_ “—are you all set for our first game against Yliaster?” _kick_.

“Of course I am. They're just like any other team.” He frowned. “Why are you asking reporter questions?”

“Eh …” _kick._ “Just thinking ahead …” He looked at Yusei for help.

“Thinking ahead …” he echoed. “Have you thought about what you want to do after the season?” he said.

Jack looked at him piercingly.

“Other than that, Jack. You live in Satellite …”

“That's just across the bay, Yusei.”

He smiled to himself. “It seems awfully far away to me.”

“Once you see my place, you'll know why I don't want to give it up.”

“I thought Satellite was—”

“A sewer, Crow? Don't hold back. There was a time when just about all of it was a wreck, but now there are certain neighborhoods that are nice.”

They finished the meal with Crow getting Jack to tell them about some of the improvements in Satellite. As they walked out, Yusei pulled Crow aside and whispered in his ear.

“You can just leave me off at Kaz's,” Jack said, settling into the back seat of the car next to Yusei. But they weren't dropping Jack at Kaz's place.

“Wait,” said Jack. “Isn't this where … Didn't you say you lived next door to Crow?”

“I might have mentioned that,” said Yusei.

“So …”

“I just want to show you around my place. We still have the whole afternoon. Did you have something you needed to do?”

“Well, no.”

Yusei smiled. “Then we could do whatever. Play catch. Or hang out.”

“Sorry,” said Crow. “I can't. I promised Aki that I'm hers for the rest of the day. I don't often have this kind of leisure during the season. So you two are on your own.”

“Oh, that's too bad.”

“Try not to sound so disappointed,” Crow said mischievously. “Here we are.”

There was a little red car parked in front of Crow's house, and when they pulled into the driveway, a woman with a striking figure and equally striking red hair stepped out and waved. Once everyone was out, Crow jabbed a thumb in Jack's direction and said, “You know who Jack is, right? Jack, this is Akiza, my much better half, and Yusei's long-time friend.”

“Hey, Jack, Yusei's told me a lot about you,” she said.

Jack cocked a curious eyebrow in Yusei's direction and he shrugged. “Nothing too insulting, I hope,” he said.

“Oh, only that you're arrogant and insufferable,” she said, chuckling.

“And I thought that he might say something bad.”

“Well, time's a-wasting,” said Crow. “I have passes to KaibaLand with our names on them.”

“Say no more!” Aki opened the car door. “Sorry, but I must be going! See you later! Yusei, Jack!”

* * *

Yusei led Jack into his house. “I want to give you the two-minute tour,” he said.

“You're right, this is a smaller house.”

“I don't need a lot of room. It's just me.”

“You and your books,” Jack said, looking around at the bookshelves.

Yusei scratched his head a little. “Yeah, I guess I am a bit of a bookworm. But what I want to do takes some study.”

“Yeah …” Jack looked around. Math, engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, et cetera, so on.

Yusei looked at Jack. He wasn't intimidated by all that, was he? “Hey, Jack,” he said. “You're not interested in all that stuff right now, are you? I mean, that's just my office. Here's the kitchen, and the living room. I have a bedroom and guest room through there,” he said motioning up the stairs. “I'd love to show you.”

“I'm not sure about that,” said Jack. “I mean, I don't want to stay too long.”

“Why not? We could hang out,” Yusei said. “I have a special media room in the basement that's great for movies. There's no windows, so the room's completely dark. You have to see it to believe it.” He gave Jack his most ingratiating smile. “What do you think? Interested?”

“I don't know—”

“Good.” Yusei pulled Jack downstairs into the media room. “Isn't this great? Look at this sectional.” The sectional sofa was broad, deep and inviting. Yusei could just picture the two of them cuddling in its curved corner or, better yet, lying together on it. It was just roomy enough. “Sit right here,” he said, “and let me show you.” He turned on a sports channel, sat down next to Jack and turned off the lights with the remote. “What do you think?”

“Pretty good. I'll bet this is great for a horror movie.”

“That's not all it's great for,” Yusei said, running his hands around Jack's neck in the dark and pulling him down into a kiss.

“Yusei …” Jack said breathlessly, when their lips finally parted, “if we start doing this, I'm not sure if I'll be able to stop. It feels so good to hold you.”

“I don't want to stop. I want you, Jack. All of you.”

“Seriously? I mean, Yusei, you could be really … I mean, very uncomfortable tomorrow—even the next day—and the series starts then! You need to be ready! I don't want to be the reason you're not at your best. Why do you think I've been putting this off?”

“We can always do things that aren't so … er … uncomfortable,” Yusei said suggestively. He turned the lights up slightly to a nice low glow with the dimmer. He wanted to see Jack.

“… and probably end up doing … uh … certain other things in the end anyway.”

“'In the end'?” Yusei chuckled. “C'mon, Jack, I'm not worried.”

“Are you in a rush? It's only been, what, since that series with the Vikings?”

“The Vik—Jack,” Yusei said, looking deeply into the violet depths of his eyes, “do you remember when you walked into the clubhouse for the first time in your Crimson Dragons uniform? You looked like a tall, cool drink of sunshine lemonade. _God!_ How I wanted you! … I hated myself for wanting you then, and I had no idea if you could ever return that emotion, but I couldn't help myself. Now …” His eyes slipped away and he pressed himself to Jack's broad chest. “Don't make me wait. We have today. Can't we make the most of it?”

“Yusei …” Yusei glanced up as a warm smile suddenly spread across Jack's face. It was so genuine and so different from his usual cocky grin that Yusei wished he had a way to preserve the moment. “'Sunshine lemonade'? I hope you're not expecting that kind of poetry from me, but you remember what I said when we had that first beer, don't you?”

“What, you mean about giving me a 'rough and tumble'?”

He chuckled. “You do remember.”

“How could I forget? It had me going for weeks.”

“I was serious. And I was serious about wanting something more, too. And now …” His gaze became both softer and more intense at the same time. Yusei wondered how that was possible, but he found himself irresistibly drawn into that gaze.

“Now?” asked Yusei. “Now what?”

“Now I think I may have actually found what I've been looking for. It blows me away. You blow me away, Yusei. And … and I don't want to blow my chance with you.”

“You're afraid that if I have a rough game because we do something I'll blame you and—”

“And things will be ruined? Maybe.”

Yusei smiled. “Stop worrying so much. Aren't you tired of waiting?”

“Yusei …” Jack leaned forward into their deepest kiss yet, pressing Yusei onto his back. Suddenly his comfortable jeans and t-shirt seemed tight and constricting.

“Mmm, Jack,” he said.

“Nn-yeah?”

“I haven't actually shown you my bedroom yet. Want to see it?”

“Mmm … I thought you'd never ask.”

Still, it took a few minutes for them to gather the motivation to get off the sofa.

 

**Chapter notes:**

Guys! If any of you were going "WTF, did I miss something?" during the last chapter, it's only because you were being perceptive! I totally screwed up and left out an _ENTIRE CHAPTER!_ What in the crap was I doing?! The missing chapter, Chapter 11, Pitching to Contact, has been restored, with my most sincere apologies. 

_Heckle and Jeckle_ : In case you haven't run across them, A couple of magpies and the old 20th Century Fox cartoon series about them. Wouldn't it be great if they were actually crows?

_Chang and Eng_ : It's my chapter for old-timey references, apparently. Perhaps the most famous conjoined twins ever.

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_the Dragons swept the series:_ _To keep this story from being too insanely long, I'm making my imaginary league similar to the older version of MLB. That is, two leagues analogous to the National and American leagues, each with two divisions. They play a 5-game series to decide the division, followed by the classic 7-game series to decide the World Series._

_Squeeze Play_ : In a squeeze play, a batter attempts to bunt the ball to advance a player on third to home (thus scoring a run). (As you recall, a bunt is a controlled hit and a sacrifice is when the batter intentionally tries lets himself be put out so that he can advance the runner.)

_a superstition about these things_ : Athletes (particularly baseball players, for some reason) are famous for their superstitions. One of those superstitions reportedly include abstention from sex before games or big games.

_T-ball_ : A variant of baseball played by children in which the ball is placed on a tee to be hit instead of being pitched by a player. The “pitcher” is another infielder.


	14. In Jeopardy

Jack opened his eyes, feeling extremely rested and … happy. Happier than … wait.

He sat up.

He looked over to his side and … _Yusei?_

Jack took a moment to enjoy the beautiful sight of the boy sleeping, his tanned shoulder and chest peeking out from under the sheets. Then he laid his hand on the shoulder, causing those huge blue eyes to spring open. “Sorry about this?”

“No … Jack, are you kidding?” Yusei sat up next to him, sheets falling around his waist to reveal his slender torso. “I … I still think you're pretty damn special. Even more now.”

He reached forward and pulled Jack down into a long, loving kiss.

“So … how do you want to handle this?” asked Jack.

“Easy enough,” smiled Yusei. “We're friends. We're on the same team. For now, anyway. We have lots of reasons to hang out together. So we … hang out together.”

Jack smiled roguishly at him in return. “Hanging out. Is that what they're calling it now?”

“Yeah, gramps.”

“You know, we need to get to the ballpark pretty quick—at least, I do. _Argh!_ I wish I'd brought along a change of clothes.”

“Can't help you there. You're definitely not my size.”

Jack shot him an exasperated look. Yusei's tone of voice indicated that he was pretty darn happy that they weren't close to the same size. “I'm taking a shower.” Jack said, getting up. He allowed Yusei the luxury of a long, leisurely view of him.

Yusei couldn't help staring. Jack walked into the bathroom thinking that it was kind of nice knowing that Yusei was so taken by the view. He hoped he wouldn't tire of it easily.

“Uh, wait, Jack! Let's … let's conserve water!”

“Hey! I told you that I didn't want to be late!”

“Aw, have a heart!”

* * *

Jack and Yusei walked into the stadium, smiling, occasionally throwing knowing glances toward each other.

“Atlas! In the GM's office! _Now!_ ” Yusei hardly recognized Brand's voice, it was so filled with anger and bitterness.

“Uhn, right away.” Jack exchanged a puzzled glance with Yusei and turned down a corridor.

“Corky? What's all this about?”

His manager said nothing, but simply turned and headed out to the field. Yusei shrugged and headed toward the clubhouse. He could find out from Crow or Dr Schmidt. Someone would know, surely.

As soon as Yusei saw him, Crow rushed over and grabbed him by the arm, roughly dragging him onto the field and pulling him over into the right field corner where balls tended to get lost in foul territory.

“What the hell is going on, Crow? Jack was called into Jaeger's office, and everyone's acting strange and—”

“You saw Jack?”

“Well, yeah,” Yusei said, “haven't you checked your voice mail yet?”

“No, what does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, we kind of … things developed last night and …”

“Oh, Yusei …” Crow didn't look nearly as happy as Yusei had expected. “Bad timing.”

“And I repeat. What. The. _H_ _ell._ Are you talking about?”

_Bad timing?_

“You're going to hear about it one way or the other. The whole scandal broke this morning—”

“Scandal—?”

“Yes, about the betting—”

“ _Betting?_ ” Yusei frowned.

“Yusei, Jack was going to throw the series. His games, anyway, and … that's a huge disadvantage, with Yliaster's—”

“Are you completely out of your bird brain?! Jack would _never—!_ ”

“They have a video. They say.”

“Who says? And when is this supposed to have happened?” Yusei tried to stop his world from spinning and think. “This makes absolutely no sense. I would have known.”

“C'mon, Yusei, how well do you really know Jack?”

“Well enough. He wouldn't do this.”

“They're pretty conv—”

“They! Who are they, anyway? Who are they to accuse Jack? What do _they_ know?!” Yusei stared at Crow. “What am I doing standing here?! I need to talk to Jack. I need to get information. This is all wrong and there has to be a way to fix this.”

Yusei turned and raced off the field, leaving Crow standing in the corner staring after him.

“Yusei was right at the beginning,” Crow said sadly, watching him go. “I really shouldn't have pushed this romance so hard. I'm sorry, Yusei.”

* * *

Jack entered Jaeger's office and stood before his desk. “So what's all this about?”

“That's what I'd like to know. Why would you destroy a potential like yours for any amount of money?”

“What the hell are you talking about? Why would you ask a stupid question like that? I can't ans—”

“Don't even try to deny it. We have proof.”

“Proof of what? What's going on? I have to train.”

“Train for what? You're suspended. There's an investigation.”

“ _What?!_ You better tell me what's going on right now! We're preparing for the Series and you're telling me I'm suspended?! What for?”

Jaeger scowled, more agitated even than usual, pacing relentlessly behind his desk. “Don't play dumb with me, Atlas.”

“I really don't know what you're talking about, so why don't you fill me in? Please.”

“So you're making me spell it out. We know about your arrangement with Don Piero.”

“My … _what?_ He's a mobster! I'd never—”

“Don't even try to deny it. We were given the DVD this morning.”

“DVD? What are—?”

“Your denials are getting tiresome. Here, let me play it for you … as revolting as it is …” Jaeger pulled out a remote and pointed it toward a console at one end of his office.

A picture flashed onto the TV screen. “That's you, isn't it? And there's Don Piero.”

“It looks like me … but … I was never there. I've never met Don Piero. I would have remembered.”

“Listen.”

The man who looked like Jack was smiling at Don Piero and saying, “I can make it look good and still lose … just barely. No one will ever know. All it will take is … oh, a mere 25 million.”

“25 million?”

“US dollars, my man.” He handed the mobster a slip of paper. “My account number.”

“I think we have a deal.”

“When the money's in my account.”

“Let's say … 5 million down payment, 10 million after your first game and another 10 after your second or the series, whichever applies.”

“That'll work.”

The feed cut, and Jaeger turned on Jack. “That sounds like you, doesn't it?”

“It does,” he admitted, “but—”

“The money's in your account.”

“How—?” Jack's jaw dropped. “Th-that's impossible!”

“Explain why 5 million US was recently deposited into your account then.”

“I … I can't … I didn't authorize that! Anyone …”

“Right. Anyone could do that. Everyone has your account number. Lots of people have millions of dollars to just throw into your account for no apparent reason.”

“Or to frame me.”

“Looks to me more like you've framed yourself.”

“When is this supposed to have happened?”

“Just last night, of course. You know—”

“Of course I don't! I was—”

_Shit._

“What? Do you have some sort of alibi? You could sure use one. But this looks bad for you.”

“I … don't have … I …” He couldn't say who he was with. It could ruin Yusei's career and still not fix things. “So I'm suspended, huh? How long?”

“Indefinitely until the investigation is complete. You might be banned. You should know that.” Jaeger shook his head. “For a mere 25 million US?”

“Yeah, that should tell you right there. It's not enough. All I ever wanted to do was play baseball. Pitch. Why the fuck would I do a thing like this?!”

“You're a cocky kid, Atlas. Cocky kids like you think they can get away with anything.”

“I'd rather win, Jaeger. See you later.” He marched out the door.

* * *

Yusei tried to slow down once he reached the inner sanctum of the stadium corridors, but it was very difficult. He settled for walking as fast as he could until he reached Jaeger's office. Then he paced in front of the receptionist's desk until he was afraid that she'd faint.

“Don't worry, I'm just waiting for the meeting inside to end. I really want to talk to Jack after and …”

Mikage didn't seem to know quite how to take this, so she simply sat at her desk and tried somewhat unsuccessfully to look busy.

Finally, Jack burst forth through the doors with both his hands pressed firmly to either side of his head. Yusei immediately glued himself to his side as he strode forward. “Talk to me, Jack,” he begged.

“You don't want to be seen with me, Yusei. I'm poison.”

“That's not what I want to hear.” He grabbed Jack's arm and yanked hard, pulling him down a side corridor. He fumbled a door open and pulled Jack into a supply closet. Closing the door behind them, they found themselves surrounded by mops and cleaning supplies. Unable to contain himself any longer, he threw himself at Jack wrapping his arms around him and squeezing him as though he might slip away any second. “This isn't true, I know it.”

“How do you know?” Jack asked bitterly. “Jaeger believes it. I bet everyone else does too.”

“Jack … wasn't it supposed to have happened last night? I know damn well you didn't do it. And even if it wasn't then, I still wouldn't believe it. I know you.”

“Yusei … honestly. You don't. We haven't known each other long at all.”

“I know you well enough. I know how you feel about baseball. It's all you want to do. The way you talk about it … Jack … If they take that away from you, what will you do?”

“I don't know … Something.”

“No, Jack. I won't let you. I'm going to say I was with you.”

“You'd have to say what we were doing. If it was anyone else … I'd risk it … but it's your career too, Yusei!”

“Is baseball really so bad about this?”

“They might say they're OK, but who actually comes out and admits they're gay, Yusei? If you say anything, you can expect your life to be made a living hell. I won't let you throw your career away! We can't know that admitting this—between us—would work anyway. It would just be your word. You didn't see that DVD. There's an impostor … I have no idea how they did it. If I didn't _know_ it wasn't me …”

“But baseball's your _life!_ If they ban you, it'll break your heart! A-and … that will b-break _my_ heart because—because it's too late to go back, now, Jack. What happens to you happens to me.”

“Yusei …” Yusei was sobbing onto Jack's chest inconsolably now, Jack running a hand through his hair, his other wrapped around him tightly. “No one's ever felt like this about me … I—I wish things hadn't fallen apart like this …”

Yusei reached up and pulled Jack's collar, hard, yanking him down into a desperate kiss. Jack relented, needing the contact every bit as much as Yusei did. His dream shattering, he held on to Yusei with all he had. After some time he broke free and whispered, “You're going to have to get back, Yusei.”

“Jack—” he breathed, “I need you. Now.”

Jack blushed. How he wanted to give in! Still, Yusei still had a dream and he needed to live it. “And I thought _you_ were the practical one,” Jack said, hoarsely. “They'll miss you and come looking for you. And I'm suspended. I need to clear out.”

“Wait, Jack. We need to figure this out. Who could have done this?”

“Well, whoever it is has my bank account number.”

“Godwin.”

“You think?”

“I'll bet he figured out you're walking. I'll bet he decided to set you up and he's got his bets set accordingly. He's got the play in with Don Piero. Whatever they put in your bank account they'll make back many times over after their big payoff. He'll make out and prevent any other agent from benefiting from your talent. What a piece of work.”

“But how—?”

“The doppelganger? You got me, but I'm going to find out.”

“You? You don't have any time.”

“I'm going to make time, Jack.”

“You know, Carly _told_ me something big was going down. I should have paid more attention.”

“What do you mean?”

“She's been investigating Don Piero and illegal gambling for the past couple of months. I didn't want to know anything about it because—well, because I'm pitching, and the less I'm involved with that sort of thing, the better, you know?”

“Huh. I think I'll give her a call.”

Jack looked slightly panicked. “You're going to call Carly? Do you think that's a good idea?”

“She's going to want to help you, Jack.”

“Just … be careful with her. I haven't broken up with her officially yet and I'm hoping to make it easy on her.”

“I'm not going to tell her, you know.”

“I know, I just …” He stopped and kissed Yusei deeply. “Get out of here. You've stayed too long already.”

“Jack, I don't want to go.”

“Don't screw up your dream because of me.”

Jack opened the door, checked the hallway, then pushed Yusei out. When he was sure that Yusei had gone, he left the broom closet.

Jack didn't bother stopping by the clubhouse on his way out.

* * *

Yusei stopped by a mens' room on the way to the clubhouse to check that his face wasn't too obviously red and swollen from crying.

That would be just what he and Jack needed on top of everything else.

_How in the world did Godwin do it?_

_How did he find someone who looked and sounded just like Jack?_

Yusei walked into the clubhouse trying to maintain an iron grip on his composure. Thank goodness he'd had plenty of practice hiding his feelings.

Plus, he had plenty of reason to look grim.

Kaz scooted over to him right away.

_Shit!_ Yusei thought. _I gave him every reason to believe those lies by keeping Jack out all night last night!_

“Yusei, you don't believe that stuff about Jack, do you?” he asked under his breath. “I don't care what they say about him, I just can't believe it.”

Yusei stared at him, surprised. “No, I don't believe it for a second.”

“I wish he hadn't stayed out all night last night. I have no idea where he was. But I know he didn't do what they say he did. I don't care what evidence they have. It's just not Jack. He wouldn't throw away his career like that. It's—”

“It's inconceivable.”

“Yeah, that's the word. Inconceivable.”

Everyone looked listless and miserable during practice. Yusei ducked out during press. He knew there would be repercussions, but he needed the afternoon to sort things out.

_The game was tomorrow, dammit!_ The series wasn't going to wait, and …

If there was any way to save Jack's career … and, especially, save the series for him …

He had to hurry …!

**Chapter notes:**

Kaz's reaction to the news: I wanted to preserve his support for Jack in this story. (You'll notice that Crow's initially negative, just as he is in the Jack/doppelganger storyline as well; that wasn't as planned, just the way it kind of turned out.)

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_In Jeopardy_ : A base runner is in jeopardy when he is not touching a base and can be tagged out. There are also a couple of special circumstances in which a base runner can be in jeopardy and can be tagged out.


	15. A Crooked Number

Yusei took a chance and stopped by the Neo Domino Journal office as his first stop.

He stopped by the desk of a woman who looked like an administrative assistant. “Can you tell me where I might find Carly Nagisa?”

The woman rolled her eyes. “To your right. Just follow the sound of sobbing.”

Yusei frowned a little. He knew exactly how Carly felt, so he bit his lip against the scathing comeback that was fighting against it.

“Hi, Carly?” he said. “You might recognize me. I'm a teammate of—”

“Oh, you're on Jack's team! It's r-really n-nice of you t-to—” she broke down into a fresh bout of crying, reaching for a box of tissues on her desk. “I'm s-so sorry. I've b-been crying all d-day.”

“It's OK. The whole team's pretty shocked. You should have seen us.”

_Hell, you should have seen_ me, he thought. _Or, then again, maybe not_.

“Uh,” he continued. “Jack mentioned something about your writing some sort of article about Don Piero and the whole gambling scene, but he didn't remember much about it.”

“Yeah, right,” she said glumly. “The whole thing's in today's paper. It's actually under the main writer's byline. I just did a lot of the research. Honestly, after what happened, I wish I had nothing to do with it.”

“You don't believe—”

“Of course not!”

“You know they say they have video.”

“I don't care if they have DNA. Or a signed confession. Jack wouldn't do that.”

Yusei smiled a tiny, sad smile. _At least there are a couple of people who believe in him. I hope we count for enough._ “Carly, would you give me your research?”

“It's all yours. I don't care if I get fired for it right now. Just don't tell my boss you have it.” She looked around carefully, then slipped a flash drive into Yusei's hand. “This is everything I've got. Good luck!”

Yusei stepped away from her desk then stopped a moment and turned around.

_I hope I don't regret this …_

“Hey, Carly, do you mind? Could you take lunch with me? I'm in a little bit of a hurry. I mean, the Series starts tomorrow and—”

“You want the shorthand version?”

“I want to help Jack if I can.”

“I'm out of here.” She gave him a smile. “It's not like I'm doing anyone any good here today anyway. Meet you out front in five.”

“Carly, you're the best.”

True to her word, Carly appeared just outside the building in almost exactly five minutes. The two ducked into a reporters' hangout that was almost literally two steps away.

“You really think you can help Jack?” Carly asked over her diet Pepsi.

“If I get the right info. So what's the gist of this scoop you have?”

“Oh, right. The low-down is that Don Piero has been quietly putting down bets against the Dragons for weeks. Plus, he's been putting down some odd side wagers for the Series. Things like under-innings and so on.”

“Under-innings?”

“That's where he wins if the player plays less than the agreed number of innings.”

“Did you get the name?”

“No, but it was—Oh. It was big.”

“It was Jack. Had to be.”

Carly sighed. “How could I not have seen this coming?”

“You knew Jack was clean, Carly. Of course you thought it was going to be fine. So … What else do you know about the operation? Any contacts? Do they have any insiders in the Dragons organization?”

“It was really hard to get anyone to talk openly, but there were a lot of folks who got wind of what was going down but were cut out of the main action. They were pretty miffed that they weren't privy to what was going on. But there were a couple who knew of some strange things that were happening. There was this new guy who Don Piero had brought on recently. A lot of his men were pretty bent out of shape about it.”

“Do you know anything about him?”

“I wish I knew more. They said that Don Piero had brought him in from Satellite for some special operation and that some bigwig had dragged him in off the street. Apparently he's just a street tough.”

“So why the resentment?”

“Well, Don Piero didn't put him to work learning the ropes. He put him up at a hotel and had him lay low. He's been there most of the summer. Apparently hardly anyone's even seen him. I thought I'd tracked him down once, but they'd gotten wise and changed hotels on me.”

“Any luck finding out who the bigwig is?”

“No, not yet. But word is he's connected to sports and doesn't want his name out. Current conjecture is that it's Jack, of course, but naturally, that's a crock. He only contacts Don Piero by phone. —And I bet it's not his own phone. Does any of this help you at all?”

“Maybe. It helps confirm some of my suspicions. Could you tell me where to find Don Piero's men?”

“They hang out a lot at a bar called Tumbling Dice in Old Domino district. If you want to go there—be careful.”

“You got it. Thanks, Carly. I mean, really, you don't know.”

“No, I should thank you. I haven't even heard from Jack yet. I've left a ton of messages for him … You don't know how worried I am.”

Suddenly Yusei felt sick with guilt. But he couldn't afford to wallow in self-pity.

“If you see Jack, could you get him to call?” Carly continued.

“I'll sure try,” Yusei said. “I'll bet he's just—just too embarrassed to call and doesn't want to throw all that misery on your doorstep.”

“Yeah, I'll bet that's it.”

Carly hugged Yusei tightly before he left.

_Jeez, I feel like a heel_ , he thought.

* * *

Yusei stopped off at his house and grabbed a small overnight bag. He grabbed an outfit out of the back of his closet and tossed it in along with a little case that he kept on the high shelf.

_I wondered why I bothered to keep these … now I know._

He stopped for just a second to tap a number into his cell.

_Hi, it's Jack. Leave a message and I'll call you back._

“Jack, it's Yusei. Call me.”

He scowled, wanting to throw the phone against the wall, but what if Jack called back? He wanted to say so much more to Jack, but phones were so easily hacked! And now people had so much reason to do it to Jack.

He jumped into his car and stopped at a small motel next to the seedy bar that was his ultimate destination. He just didn't want to be seen leaving the house like this.

He completed the transformation in record time and walked into the bar. It was a worn-out place, but had televisions running various sports feeds.

“Hey, Good-lookin', buy you a drink?” asked a well-worn fireplug of a man.

Resisting the urge to turn him down flat, Yusei smiled and sat carefully on a stool next to him at the bar.

He smothered a sigh. _What I do for love_. He looked into the man's eyes, batting the long eyelashes that he's applied very carefully. Even more carefully, he crossed his legs, smoothing the miniskirt to ensure that nothing telltale was revealed and that his legs were shown off to full advantage.

He _hated_ cross-dressing. It was one of the main reasons that he had broken up with his previous boyfriend. The guy was positively addicted to seeing Yusei in dresses! But he thought that this would be the quickest and most effective way to get the information he wanted.

And he knew he was pretty unrecognizable as long as he did his hair right.

“So, what's your name and what do you want, sweetie?”

“Just call me Yolanda. I'll have a pina colada if that's OK.”

“More than OK, _Yolanda_.” He pronounced the made-up name excessively, as though to memorize it. “What a pretty name.”

“Thanks. What's yours?”

“Frank.”

“Hi Frank. Are you as straightforward as your name?”

The man laughed. “Sometimes I'm accused of that!”

One of the televisions above the bar started running news about Jack's suspension. A video of one of Jack's previous press conferences played with a crawl that he couldn't be located currently.

_Where_ are _you, Jack?_ Yusei thought.

“You like baseball?” asked Frank with a little interest.

“Yeah, I'm a big fan,” Yusei said, brightening her smile. Then he let it slip a little. “I was a big fan of Jack Atlas. Do you think what they're saying is really true?”

Frank smiled. “A little birdie told me that he was set up.”

Yusei steeled himself mentally and sent out all the positive body language he could muster: wide open eyes with fluttering lashes, his painted lips in an _oh_ , his hand reaching forward to touch Frank's wrist lightly. “Really? They say they have video. They still haven't shown much of it, but—”

“Video?!” Frank exclaimed. “Don't make me laugh! Doesn't matter what it is when you've got what they've got.”

“What do you mean?”

“They have a ringer.”

“ _Really?_ ” he said with a slight excess of awe. _You're brilliant to know this, Mister!_ “How do you know?”

“I've seen'im. Better than that, I know where they've got'im stashed.”

“Nah!”

“No, I do! Come out with me, baby, and I'll take you by there.”

_Are you kidding? That easy?_

“You've got yourself a deal, Frank. I can't believe there's a guy who looks just like Jack Atlas.”

Well, that at least was true. He _couldn't_ believe there was a guy who looked like Jack Atlas.

“Let's get going, Yo _lan_ da.”

* * *

The knocking just didn't stop.

“All right, all ready! I'm coming!” Kiryu threw the door open without even bothering to look through the peephole for once. Probably not the best idea with such relentless pounding, but still …

“Jack?”

“Kiryu? Can I come in?”

Kiryu, who'd been standing flat-footed in shock at seeing his best friend standing on his doorstep frazzled and in uncharacteristic disarray, started and said, “Uh, sure, of course, Jack, come in! Come in! You're the last person I expected to see today.”

“I … I just didn't know who … I—shit, Kiryu, I could sure use a friend just about now.”

“Yeah, I bet you could use a beer, too.”

“Wait, Kiryu,” Jack said, standing in the entryway. “Could we … if it's not too much trouble, could you help me train today?”

“Train? Today? After what happened?”

“Yeah. I don't have anyone to catch for me, you see, or hit fungoes, or throw batting practice.”

“Seriously? You want to do the whole routine like nothing happened?”

“As close as I can, then I'll take you up on the beer. OK, Kiryu? It'll make me feel better.” He reached out and grabbed Kiryu's upper arm. “Seriously. My stuff's outside.”

Kiryu looked out into the drive. “You rode your monowheel over? Isn't that against your contract?”

“I'm allowed to ride it in the off season and, as far as they're concerned, my season's over. So fuck it, if I get hurt today, they don't care.”

“Jack …” Kiryu sighed. “All right. I'll get dressed and pull my stuff together. It'll be good to get a little exercise. It's not like I had anything planned for today. But … that stuff they said, seriously, it's not true.” It wasn't a question.

“'Course not.”

“Good. I figured they'd trumped things up somehow.”

“But proving it?” Jack's voice nearly cracked in frustration.

“It'll all come out.”

“Not before tomorrow. I can't _pitch_ , Kiryu! It's the Series!”

“I get it, believe me. I know how hard you've worked.”

“Yeah …”

“Anyway, I'll get ready and meet you around back. Go ahead and use the guest room.”

“Thanks, Kiryu, you're a real friend. I'll grab my stuff.”

In a few minutes they were in Kiryu's back yard warming up. Jack did as full a routine as he could manage, including lifting some weights down in Kiryu's mini-gym.

After he'd warmed down, Jack said, “Thanks, Kiryu, that really helped. I think I'll have that beer now.”

“Yeah, I bet you could use it. Sit yourself down in the living room and I'll be right back.”

“Yeah, thanks, Kiryu.”

Kiryu reappeared with two beers quickly, handing Jack one. “So, all you wanted to talk about was the season and pitching. You never really said what happened back there. What's the story?” he asked. “I thought you'd be in a confab with your agent right about now.”

Jack took a swallow of beer and said, “I'm not sure that's the best idea.”

“Godwin? He's one of the best.”

“I'm not sure he's for me, but I won't say why just now.”

Kiryu shrugged. “You know him better than I do. There was word about a video? They haven't released it yet.”

“Yeah. I've seen it. It's … I can't explain it. Some kind of impostor. It's uncanny.”

“Really? Two … of you? I'm not sure the world can take that, Jack.”

“You and me both, Kiryu.”

“Well, I'm not sure beer will do it for this circumstance. If you think it'll help to get drunk, I can definitely make it happen,” Kiryu said with a rueful smile.

Jack sighed. “I'm considering it.”

“You know …” Kiryu said thoughtfully, taking a sip from his bottle, “I would have thought you'd be spending time with Carly today instead of working out like everything was normal. You know, getting your ego and spirit revived?”

Jack sighed. _Carly_. “Kiryu … you know how important baseball is to me.”

“But what if this is it?”

“Yeah, I know! What if! Don't you think that's occurred to me?” Jack stopped himself, calming his agitation and sighing again. Then he said, “My whole life's falling apart.”

“All the more reason.”

“That's why I'm with my best friend.”

“And not your girlfriend. You're a strange guy, Jack.” Kiryu frowned. “Remember back in middle school?”

“I try to forget those days.”

“Your first girlfriend.”

Jack groaned. “That was a disaster. All the guys at the orphanage? It was ridiculous.”

“They were living vicariously through you. The way all the girls started running after you?”

“They practically pushed me into—you know.” Jack blushed at the memory. “It's why I left. Well, it was one of the reasons.”

“I still think you were overreacting.”

“It was traumatic.”

“Please!” Kiryu started to laugh, then looked at Jack. “You're serious.”

“Yes, I am.”

Kiryu leaned back. “I don't know about you, Jack. You've always been squirrely when it comes to your girlfriends. You'd think that you weren't really into—shit.” He leaned forward again, staring at Jack. “You really aren't into them, are you, Jack?”

Jack froze for a second, then said slowly, “No, I guess I'm not.” He glanced up at Kiryu and then stared at his bottle. _Damn, empty._

“Well, gee, Jack! I feel like a fool! How many girls did I set you up with? … Shit. I should have known, the way you were so exacting about having sex with your girlfriends, all prim and proper-like—and for a guy who practically has girls throwing themselves at him, too … And then, you'd disappear randomly on weekends—I thought it was a gambling thing … _Gah!_ Now it all makes sense!”

“You-You're not mad?”

“Why would I be mad?”

“For being the way I am—For not telling you!”

“Jack … think of all the crap we went through together growing up in Satellite. I'd be garbage myself if I threw all that away. But as for not telling me … sure, I wish you had, but … damn, I see how it is. What kind of friend would I be if I made it harder on you? Especially today?” He shrugged, getting up. “I'm getting us more beer. Wait, maybe I should get out the Scotch.”

“I can't believe you're—Never mind. Thanks, Kiryu.”

“For what?”

“For being OK with it. You don't know how … I've wanted to tell you for years, Kiryu, but I couldn't risk losing my best friend.”

“Jack, you haven't changed into someone else. We're still friends as far as I'm concerned.” He brought a couple of glasses and a bottle over. Setting the glasses down and pouring, he asked, “No wonder you were all wound up over Carly last time we talked. You were talking about wanting to find a perfect match. Huh. I guess Carly wouldn't be that person. Not for you, anyway. But have you met anyone? Somebody that you think you really can click with, that is?”

A wan smile made its way onto Jack's face. “Actually, I think I have found somebody. Somebody special.”

“Can you say who it is?”

“I want to get his permission to say first. He's in sports too, you see.”

“Is it—no, don't tell me, I shouldn't ask if it's someone on your team.” He handed Jack a glass. “To the two of you— _and_ to whoever it is who set you up getting what's coming to him! How about that?” Kiryu proposed.

“I'll drink to that.”

* * *

“You want another drink before we go up?” asked Frank.

“No, let's save it for later, when we go out on the town.”

“You don't mind if I do—”

“Not at all.”

Frank took a swig out of an old-fashioned hip flask and started up the stairs. Yusei followed.

On the second floor, they walked down a dingy corridor to room 212, where Frank knocked on the door.

“Godwin, is that you? It's about time you—” The door opened and someone who looked startlingly like Jack Atlas scowled down at them. “Frank? Do I need to pack? But wait, you know you're not supposed to bring anyone around! Who the hell are you?” His gaze softened a little. “I could make an exception, though. You're a looker. C'mon in.”

Yusei stepped in. “We can stay a minute or two, right, Frank?”

“Y-yeah, I guess.”

“I want to hear about this scheme.”

Jack's double scowled a little at that. “You're not in on it.”

“Aw, c'mon, don't be that way! When's the last time you had any fun?” Yusei cringed a little inside. He was so like Jack, but at the same time so unlike him that the creep factor was sky high. “What's your name?”

Frank growled. “Yolanda, I think—”

Jack's double pushed Frank into a chair. “ _I_ think you should leave Yolanda alone. My name's Jason. Jason Prince.”

Yusei sat down on the bed and looked into his eyes. They were violet-ish, but there was red in them. Weird. “So what's the story?”

He shrugged. “This guy—”

“Godwin.”

“Yeah, Godwin. He came by one day and just … stared at me. He said he might have a job one day for me and hired me on the spot. Put me on retainer, he said.”

“Retainer?”

“Yeah. He paid me just to stay in touch. That was, huh, a couple of years ago now.”

_Just before Jack was drafted. Godwin sure thinks ahead …_

“So I just take the money. Money for calling in every so often? I can handle that. Then one day I see a sports page and I put two and two together. I guess that there's a reason he's interested in me.”

“Yeah, because you look almost exactly like Jack Atlas. I bet you don't pitch like him, though.”

“I bet I don't. But I sound like him. Mostly.”

“But why—”

“Why did Godwin pull the trigger? Don't ask me. I'm just pulling down a paycheck. I'm waiting for the cash and a ticket outta here. You're gonna have to ask him why he's killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.”

“Oh, I think I have a pretty good hunch on that one. Hey, Frank? Let's get out of here.”

“Aw, c'mon, babe!” Prince implored. “Stay the night!”

Frank popped out of his chair. “Great! Bye, Jase!”

As they rounded a corner into the parking lot, Yusei said, “I'm really sorry about this, Frank. You've been really great.”

“Sorry? About what?”

“ _This!_ ” Yusei said, bringing down a karate chop on the back of his neck. Frank went down like a sack of potatoes. Yusei extracted Frank's car keys and pulled out his own phone. He called the police. “Hey, police? I have the address of an impostor for you. There's a guy who impersonated Jack Atlas? Part of a gambling ring? Yes. Here's the address …”

He gave the details as he headed towards Frank's car. Then he headed back towards his own, looking up Jack at a red light.

_Don't go to voice mail again!_

“Jack's phone. He says he doesn't want to talk now. Got a message?”

“Who's this?” Someone honked behind him, prodding Yusei to step on the gas. _He wouldn't have gone to see an old boyfriend, would he?_

“Kiryu. Who's this?”

Yusei sighed in relief and relaxed a little. Then he tensed again. “Put him on. Now.”

“Who is this?”

“Yusei! His teammate!”

There was a little conversation in the background and then, “Yusei, hi.”

“Why aren't you answering your messages? Never mind. I don't care. Are you drinking? Stop!”

“What-What's going on?”

“I found the guy who impersonated you and— _damn!_ You wouldn't believe it! He looks just like you. You could be twins.”

“For all I know, we could be. After all, I am an orphan.”

“Huh. Anyway, I've called in the cops and I'm on my way to Godwin's.” He grinned to himself. “After I duplicate the recording I made of Prince's confession.”

“Recording? Prince?”

“Yeah, that's what he calls himself. Jason Prince.”

“Sheesh. I'll meet you at Godwin's.”

“You've been drinking?” Yusei said skeptically.

“I'll have Kiryu drive me.”

“Wait—”

But Jack had hung up. _Wasn't Kiryu drinking with him?_

_Crap! A stoplight._ He had to concentrate on his own driving.

**Chapter notes:**

Well ... I feel like I'm just getting started getting my feet wet with action-y stuff. I guess there was a little tiny bit in _Satisfaction_ , but somehow it feels like it's a little more intense through this section. Hope you don't mind helping me practice writing this stuff. It still feels a little stiff and rough coming out.

Kiryu: I'm thinking he is by far the most OOC character in this story. First, he's straight even though I think he's probably actually the _most_ likely to be gay, certainly of Team Satisfaction. Then I've made him Jack's best friend, which probably isn't the most likely combo (although I like it as a refreshing variation), and here he is readily accepting of Jack not confiding a huge secret like this in him ... hm. Interesting, but is it Kiryu? Maybe the kinder, gentler version? I feel like I've kind of made him fit the story rather than allowing the story to fit itself around him. Feel free to comment as you care to!

Doppel-Jack: A play on Yliaster's Jack-bot double.

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_Title_ : When you “hang a crooked number,” you put up a score of more than 0 or 1 on the scoreboard for the inning. “Crooked” refers to the actual physical appearance of the number.

_under-innings_ : I made this up, but considering that people bet on anything and everything, I'll bet that they bet on this, though they might call it something else. ;)


	16. Nailed

Yusei quickly duplicated his recording and set everything up, then quickly changed into normal clothing. Finally he set out for Godwin's. He hoped he could get there before Godwin could get wind of anything.

When he pulled up, the palatial house looked dark. He sighed with relief. He knew he was taking a risk leaving Prince's hotel room, but he needed to start some other plates spinning.

He smiled grimly to himself as he stepped out of the car. Whatever happened now, there was more than reasonable doubt that Jack did anything wrong and Godwin was implicated in setting him up.

He heard a motor behind him and turned around to see a very unusual motorcycle pull up at high speed. It was a white monocycle with a huge single whitewall.

_Jack?_

As Jack hopped off and rapidly approached, Yusei realized that he'd never seen Jack's motorcycle.

“I thought you were going to have Kiryu drive,” he said.

“How else was I going to get my bike back here?”

“You idiot. How did you get here so fast, anyway? Doesn't Kiryu live in Satellite?”

“Yes, I just rode over at 100 or so.”

“KPH?”

“No, MPH.”

Yusei nearly punched him. “And I repeat. _Idiot!_ ” He pulled Jack into the shadow of a tree and kissed him deeply, loving the feeling of the tension draining from Jack's body as he relaxed into the kiss. “Don't you know that I've been worried about you all day?”

“I've just been training.”

Yusei rolled his eyes. “Don't you ever quit?”

“No. How do you think that I got this good? Do you think it's easy? Well, I try to make it look easy, but—”

Yusei cut him off with another kiss, then said, “Well, I'm really glad to see you. Let's go. Follow my lead.”

“Wait. What's that on your eyes?” he asked, staring at Yusei quizzically.

Yusei reached up and … rolled his eyes. False eyelashes.

_Shit_.

“I'll tell you later.” Yusei grabbed Jack's hand and pulled him up to the door. Forgoing the doorbell, he started pounding on it. Jack joined in with gusto. “Let me show you how it's done,” he said with a gleam in his eye.

The door was duly flung open by an angry Godwin wrapped in a robe. “What's the meaning of this!” he demanded.

Yusei pushed his way past Godwin into his entryway, saying, “Jack's firing you. I thought you might like the details.”

“Fudo. Hm, you must be Jack's distraction.” Godwin smiled a creepy, knowing smile. “I knew he had someone that was attracting his attention. At least he has good taste.” He backed up and leaned against a long end-table, resting his elbows on it in a casual posture.

“He's not a 'distraction,' Godwin, and I don't need Yusei to tell you what I'm doing anyway. Clearly you saw it coming or you wouldn't have pulled this.”

“Yes, Jack. I gave you every chance to turn around and let me into your life, but you shut me out. It was becoming very clear that you didn't trust me and that it was only a matter of time before you dropped me, but that has nothing to do with your current predicament. Why you would blame me for that—”

“Cut the bullshit, Godwin. I talked to Prince.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Like I said, cut the crap. I'll show you what I'm talking about.” Yusei reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Before Godwin could say anything, what sounded like Jack's voice came from the phone.

“ _This guy—”_

“ _Godwin.”_

“ _Yeah, Godwin. He came by one day and just … stared at me. He said he might have a job one day for me and hired me on the spot. Put me on retainer, he said.”_

Yusei punched a button on the phone and the recording stopped. “There's a video, in case you're interested.”

“Th-that could be Jack.”

“Right. Oh, did I mention that the cops were called? With any luck, this guy's in custody by now. And when they get their hands on the guy who looks just like Jack, and Frank, who can back my story up … I guess you'll have all the answers for that, too. How Jack would throw his career out the window, how some dude who looks just like him would have a story about you, who has Jack's account numbers.”

All the color drained from Godwin's face.

“And, oh, by the way, the deal was made when Jack was at my place.” He smiled. “I'll give him the alibi even if I have to tell the truth about us. But I don't think we'll have to … and if _you_ do, you'll just sound like you're sore.”

Godwin opened his mouth as though to say something, but then closed it, apparently realizing that it was useless. Swiftly, he reached behind him on the table and produced a pistol, which he leveled at Yusei. “Hand over that phone,” he said.

“Sure, for all the good it'll do you,” he said, handing the phone over. “And, by the way, we can drop by my apartment and delete all my copies, too. It still won't help you. I've sent it to the press.”

“You—” he hissed.

Yusei grinned, looking Godwin in the eye. “Oh, please try to buy me off, Godwin. I'm just dying to tell you 'No way in hell.'”

For a tense second, Yusei thought that Godwin might actually shoot—and he spotted Jack out of the corner of his eye, coiled to pounce—but Godwin was smarter than that. He took a cautious step in the direction of the stairs.

“Don't even think about it,” said Jack coolly. When Godwin made a break for it, Jack tackled him, pulling an arm behind him in a hammerlock and disarming him. “You know,” he whispered into Godwin's ear as he lay on top of him, “I've had to fight my way here from the streets of Satellite. You might want to think twice before pushing your luck.”

Yusei quickly found some electrical ties to secure the man while they waited for the police.

“Why didn't you call the police to begin with?” asked Jack as they sat on Godwin waiting for the police to arrive.

“And miss the confrontation? No way.”

“What do you want to do while we're waiting? I'm bored.”

“Well, Godwin already knows about us, so I don't suppose he'd mind if we make out a little.”

Jack smiled, moving a little closer to Yusei.

“ _Oof!_ That's my kidney you're crushing!”

“You might think of that next time you want to frame one of your clients, Godwin!” Jack scolded, frowning. “Do I need to use duct tape or are you going to pipe down! Now, where were we?”

Yusei let Jack kiss him sweetly—after so much panic, it was so good to be able to relax a little. He pulled back a little. “Was it really just this morning that all this broke open? It feels like a year has gone by!”

“I tell you, I must have aged ten years. I really should take it out of Godwin's hide!”

“I'm right here, you know!”

“Shut up!” Jack and Yusei shouted simultaneously.

“But … you were going to tell me about these,” Jack said, brushing his thumb over Yusei's eyelid.

Yusei blushed. “Oh. Right.” He went on to explain how he went about getting the intel on Jack's impostor. “You—you're not into that, are you? Because—”

“What, seeing you in skirts? If I wanted someone in skirts, I'd date girls.” Jack hugged Yusei, then frowned. “But, seriously, I don't like the chance that you took, doing that all by yourself! You could have been hurt! And then what would I—”

“I didn't, and that's what the disguise was for. No one ever recognizes me like that. Besides, do you think I could have found anything out if you'd come along?”

“A-and that guy. You didn't have-have to—”

Yusei smiled and ran his fingers along Jack's cheeks. “Of course not. But even if I didn't have you, he was gross. I just needed him to get the info. I couldn't believe how lucky I was. But it was Carly's information that got me where I needed to be to get lucky.” He started to run his fingers through Jack's hair absently. It felt nice.

“Carly … She's been so good to me. How am I going to break the news?” Jack quickly began to relax under Yusei's ministrations.

“Yeah, I felt so bad when we were talking. I felt like such a fraud, commiserating with her while I conspired to take her boyfriend away.”

“But I was … never hers … Not …” Jack yawned. “… not really.” His eyelids lost the battle of trying to stay up and finally concealed the violet eyes, Jack slumping forward.

“That's right … you're past curfew. Let's find you some place to lie down.”

Jack mumbled an assent and, with difficulty, Yusei helped him to his feet. “Thmphs gfsth rmph vf …” Jack mumbled, weakly waving a hand.

“About time!” Godwin commented at the release of pressure.

“Shh, you'll wake Jack,” growled Yusei. “I can still tickle you, you know. You say a guest room?” he said gently. “I'll get you there.”

Yusei half-dragged Jack into the hallway, locating the room and removing enough of Jack's clothing to make him comfortable. “Had a hard day, didn't you?” he murmured softly. Stepping back to admire his work, he sighed. _Well, this much won't hurt!_ he thought and bent to place a tender kiss Jack's slightly parted lips. _If only Jack weren't asleep!_ He really didn't want to stop there …

Gritting his teeth, he turned back to the living room and Godwin. That mood-killer should prevent him from developing the problem that was threatening to arise …

By the time the police arrived, Yusei had removed his false eyelashes, called Corky and filled him in on what was happening, and extracted a set of house keys from Godwin.

“Jack's staying over at your place tonight. I trust you don't have a problem with that. If you want, I'll call your lawyer and get him your keys tomorrow. That way, he can meet you at the station tonight. Win-win.”

“Yusei, you're a real gentleman,” Godwin sneered.

“Hey, no problem.”

It was pretty late by the time Yusei got everything squared away with detectives. They had secured Prince and Frank. He turned Godwin over without further incident, and handed over his recording. He didn't mind receiving the tongue-lashing for taking matters into his own hands, pointing out that if he'd waited for police assistance, the series would be over.

Fortunately, they didn't make him come into the station right away to make his statement. Yawning and stretching, he decided maybe he should stay over as well.

“Damn it!” he thought. “If only we didn't both need our rest, this would be a perfect opportunity!” Sighing, he found a second guest room and collapsed onto the bed. He hadn't had time to let himself feel the relief. Jack …

_Corky had said if he checked out, he could pitch!_

Yusei closed his eyes with that thought running through his mind. _When I tell him tomorrow morning, he'll be ecstatic!_

He smiled as sleep closed in.

_I get to be the one to tell him …_

* * *

The next morning Jack awoke to an odd sensation against his lips. His eyes had flew open to see two deep blue eyes staring into his. “Hey, Jack, get up!”

Blinking, Jack wondered what the rush was to get up, and wrapped Yusei into a tight embrace. But when Yusei resisted, Jack realized they were in Godwin's guest room and everything flooded back. “Oh! Yeah, I want to get down to the station and get my hands on that guy who posed as me!” he exclaimed, sitting up.

“No, not yet, Jack, we need to get to the stadium! You're pitching!”

“Pitching!” He'd jumped out of bed and everything had pretty much turned into a blur after that.

* * *

The next evening … the first game of the series …

Kiryu settled into his seat at the stadium and opened his program. “Can this be right?” he mumbled. “It says here that Jack's pitching.”

“Haven't you heard anything?” said the brunette edging into the seat next to him. “Of course, it was just announced within the last hour or so.” She stumbled, nearly sending her large Coke into his lap. He rescued it expertly.

“Hey, lucky you, I'm an expert fielder.”

“That's just what Jack … would … Wait, aren't you—?”

“Yeah, Kiryu Kyosuke at your service. Jack left me a ticket. I assume …?”

“Oh, yeah. I'm—”

“You must be Carly. I've heard all about you.”

“Nothing too embarrassing, I hope.”

“Not unless ridiculously adorable counts as embarrassing,” Kiryu smiled.

Carly blushed. “Really?”

Kiryu worried a second, thinking, _Maybe I pushed Jack in too deep_. But he really thought Carly was, well, kind of ridiculously adorable in a kind of awkward-colt kind of way. “So …” he said, “how'd this all happen? When he was at my place yesterday—”

“What? He was at your place?” Carly let out an exasperated sigh. “We were so worried! He wasn't answering his calls! We had no idea what might have happened!”

“We?”

“We. Oh. You wouldn't know. Jack's teammate, Yusei, stopped by—In fact, I think he's the one who figured everything out and got Jack back on the team.”

“Yusei, huh?” _That little … I never would have guessed. Well, I was clueless, anyway._ Kiryu frowned, thinking back. _That—the whole business, from the beginning. Even before Jack joined the team. There was that little push-and-shove between them the very game before, wasn't there?_ “I should have known,” he said.

“Known? Known what?”

“Oh! That his friends would figure something out,” he smiled. “Hey, can I buy you a hot dog or something?”

“You know? That would be great. But you don't have to. I don't even know you.”

“But I feel like we're friends already. I hear so much about you from Jack.”

“Well, then, OK, seeing as we'll both be cheering for him. I hear Yliaster's really tough.”

“Well, this should be the biggest challenge for the Dragons yet, but they're a tough team. The thing about Yliaster, though … they're not exactly known for fighting fair. You say they weren't behind benching Jack?”

“No, at least we don't think so. It was his agent, Godwin.”

“Huh. And I would have laid odds.”

Carly looked out toward the field with a thoughtful look on her face. “Really,” she said. “I wonder …”

“What?”

She looked at him. “Nothing … nothing I can check into here.” Still, she got up and pulled out her cell, talking on it at the top of aisle. Kiryu watched curiously.

When she returned, he asked, “What was all that about?”

“Oh, I just called the lead reporter on the big story I was working on.”

“Oh, you mean the one that wrongly accused Jack?”

Carly frowned. “That wasn't my fault!”

“Sorry.”

“Yeah, that one. I told him he could make up for that by checking out a lead for me.”

“What lead?”

“It's probably nothing … still …”

Kiryu couldn't get her to be more specific, but he was certain it had to do with Yliaster.

They looked toward the field as the Dragons took it, fielding practice in the infield, while the pitchers ran in the outfield. “Hey, there's Jack,” said Kiryu. He waved and headed down to the edge of the stands and leaned over the railing, with Carly at his heels. “Watch it,” he said to her. “You don't want to fall over.”

“I'm not that clumsy.”

“I'm not so sure of that,” he laughed.

Jack had spotted the two by now and was leaning up against the wall. “What's so funny?”

“Just Carly, that's all. I'm worried she might take a tumble into the outfield.”

“Luckily we have a great fielding team. Someone's likely to catch her.”

“Jack …” But something had caught her eye. “Hey, Jack, do you see Jose?”

He looked over to Yliaster's dugout and, indeed, their manager was angrily yelling over the dugout telephone, waving wildly in their general direction.

“What do you think that's all about?” asked Kiryu.

“Huhn,” said Jack. “I have no idea, but it doesn't look good. Whatever, I have to get back to my running before Red gets pissed and takes me out of the lineup.”

“No problem,” said Kiryu.

“Good luck!” called Carly.

The two made their way back up to their seats as Jack trotted back out onto the outfield turf. He took a second to look casually toward the infield where Yusei was scooping up grounders and throwing them briskly to various bases in game simulations … second, first, third, home plate.

Kiryu noticed the lingering glance and decided that it wasn't as casual as Jack had wanted it to seem. It had been just a little too long. He looked back toward the infield. Was it …? A break in the practice allowed the shortstop a moment to breathe, and he took that chance to glance toward the pitchers in the outfield … specifically tonight's starting pitcher.

He snorted.

_Well, that confirms it. It's definitely Fudo._

“Kiryu? Are you all right?”

“I'm fine, Carly, I'm just thinking about, uh, Jack. Yesterday was pretty rough for him. I hope he pitches a great game tonight.”

* * *

Later, Jack stood on the mound taking his practice pitches. It felt good just to have Yusei standing behind him. Yusei had backed him up, in so many ways, so many more than just as a shortstop. He wouldn't even be here pitching tonight if it hadn't been for him ducking out and working things out.

Corky and Jaeger hadn't been happy about Yusei skipping out on press and some of his obligations, but he couldn't exactly complain about getting Jack back, so it looked like most of the punishments would slide this time. In any case, Jack planned to more than make up for any inconveniences that came out of the situation.

Still, once the game started, Jack got off to an uncharacteristically slow start. It was Yliaster, after all, but after the first inning, the Dragons were two runs down.

Jack had his game face on, but Yusei could tell he was frustrated with himself. This was the result of the stress and disruption to his routine. Yusei made sure that he sat next to Jack on the bench, which was easy enough because the other players wanted to give him and his pissed-off aura plenty of room. Jack wouldn't look at him, but Yusei didn't mind. Just being there to lend moral support made him feel better.

Yusei sighed. He was up second, so he had to get right out of the dugout and into the on-deck circle. As he knelt on one knee slapping rosin onto his batting gloves, he sensed something distinctly off about Vincente Aporia, Yliaster's ace. The guy was all over the place, balls hitting the dirt, inside, outside … He didn't remember that this guy had control problems. Was it the pressure of the series?

He scowled. He couldn't understand what it was, but something was setting off alarm bells deep inside him.

He shook it off, watching Crow garner a quick walk on the first at-bat.

Yusei approached his at-bat with great care. _What was this guy up to?_ The guy stared in at him, a huge grin on his face, watching him take his practice swings while flipping the ball over and over in his hand. _Is this guy trying to intimidate me?_

The first pitch hit the dirt at his feet, bouncing through the catcher for a passed ball, sending Crow running to second base. If this was a set-up, it was a risky one.

The next pitch was one that he couldn't move out of the way of. Spinning away, he took a glancing blow on his butt. When he got to first base, he looked into the dugout, worried about what Jack's reaction might be. The guy was as stoic as always, but Yusei could see that his body was rigidly tense.

He signaled to the dugout that he was fine. He prayed that Jack would calm down and relax enough to pitch.

Afterward, Aporia seemed to settle down a little and managed to get out of the inning after only giving up one run.

Yusei headed out to his position between second and third base thinking that was suspicious in itself.

_What was Aporia up to?_

Whatever it was, the Dragons were still one run down going into the second. Fortunately, Jack had settled down as well, which brought the dragons to the bottom of the second in the same shape.

But Yusei was concerned. Because of the action in the first, Jack was due up in the inning and Yusei was concerned what might happen.

As Andre stepped up to the plate, Yusei said softly, “Jack, I know you want to concentrate on the game, but you're about to bat … I want you to be careful—”

“I'm always careful—”

“I know, but Aporia's pitching is off … weird—”

“He's wild, yeah.”

“No, I think he's setting something up. I'm worried for you.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I know … I just … I think they're gunning for you.”

“Me?”

“As in they might be connected to Godwin some way.”

“What, are you some sort of conspiracy theorist? Yusei … Thanks,” Jack turned to Yusei for a moment, his eyes gleaming, then turned his attention to the field again. “But I think your imagination is working overtime.”

“Jack—”

But Andre was already walking back toward the dugout and Jack had stood up. “I'll be fine,” he said without looking back. “See you after I cross the plate!” He grinned and cast Yusei a parting glance.

“Be careful.”

“Don't worry so much.” With that, Jack headed out to the on-deck circle.

Jack knelt on one knee in the on-deck circle, glad that Yusei had kept his conversation too low to be overheard in the general hubbub of the dugout. He chuckled a little. Yusei was sweet, really, worrying over him like that. But maybe it's been all the things that had cropped up over the season that had him on edge. He ought to worry about himself. It wasn't like he didn't have to face Aporia too—a little guy like him. Maybe that's what Yusei was so bent out of shape about, though. Jack was a bigger target.

Yusei's concern might be that Jack could be hurt, but Jack's concern was a little different. Yusei had already been hit by the guy. He hadn't mentioned it to Yusei, but he planned on getting that back … not by beaning the guy, no, but with his bat.

“Here Mr Atlas!” said Rua, handing Jack his bat.

“Why don't you call me Jack by now? You've known me long enough.”

The boy beamed. “Sure, Jack.”

Jack wondered why the boy was such a fan, traveling with the team and all, but he had to set that aside for now. It was about time he got his head back into the game so that he could bat. He sighed as he applied rosin to his bat.

Despite a couple of pitches that bounced low, Bommer managed somehow to strike out. Jack stood and walked up to the plate, his eyes on Aporia.

Jack took his practice swings and stepped into the batter's box. He smiled to himself as he narrowed his eyes, zoning in on Aporia's pitching hand. His mind went back to Yusei and his overprotectiveness once more.

Still, it was terrific to think that Yusei had him on his mind, though, even during the game—even during a game as important as this one.

It made him want to punch the ball over the wall, he felt so great.

His smile turned into a grin. Aporia saw this and stepped off the rubber, almost a balk. Jack practically burst out laughing, he felt so good. This was just getting better and better.

Aporia, on the other hand, was fuming.

Aporia wasted no time and went into the wind-up. Everything after the release seemed to click into slow motion. Jack could see right away the pitch was wild—high, and straight at his head. The slow-motion weirdness was such that Jack was positive that he could see the spin on it—and the spin was all wrong. Why wasn't he twisting out of the way?! He started twisting down a split-second too late, but—miraculously—some object inserted itself between him and the pitch and both fell harmlessly before him.

_Rua?_

“Rua! _Rua!_ Are you OK?” Jack was suddenly on his knees next to the crumpled form of the batboy. “Why did you do that?! You know that you aren't allowed on the playing field! Rua!” He looked up at Aporia, his eyes glaring pure malice. “We both know what that was, Aporia!”

By now, the dugout had emptied, Corky barely restraining the team from charging the mound. “Let the umpires handle this!” he shouted as loudly as he could.

Jose was out, already arguing interference on the part of Rua while Dr Schmidt took a look at Rua. Fortunately, he'd only been hit in the arms, knocking it out of the way when he saw it coming at Jack's head, but when he dropped, he'd been stunned by the fall and the pain. Now he was hugging Jack and crying from the shock, worried that he'd be punished for getting in the way of play.

“Now, now,” Jack soothed, “I won't let them fire you. You saved me. I saw something that distracted me and I couldn't get out of the way in time. Thanks, Rua.”

“I … saved you?”

“Yeah.”

“I saved Jack Atlas?”

“I guess so.”

Rua's tears eased off and he smiled a little, hiccuping. “Wow. I saved Jack Atlas.”

“Do you think you could let Dr Schmidt take care of your arm and let us get back to the game now?”

“Oh, sorry, Jack.”

“It's OK.”

But Yusei was kneeling on one knee nearby looking like he wished he could talk to Jack. The two exchanged a glance. _Yusei … I'm OK, honestly_ , Jack tried to tell him. He probably saw that little hesitation and doesn't understand what it's about.

Meanwhile, the discussion between Jose and the umpire had turned into a three-way discussion as Corky had joined in. “Gentlemen,” the umpire said with commanding authority, causing the two to stop trying to drown each other's argument's out for a minute, “this is clearly interference, so the ball is dead.”

“But—”

“Now, Corky, I understand your position. I'm not throwing Rua out of the game because he came in only to protect your pitcher. However, I want you to warn him that this is not acceptable behavior. That is, of course, if he's well enough to continue in the game.”

“Wait now—”

“Jose, keep it. I know what you're going to say, and that pitch was going straight for Atlas' head. What do you think I would have done if it had connected? At this point, just be glad I don't eject Aporia.”

“Are you saying this was intentional?” Jose looked insulted.

“I'm saying I'm considering all possibilities at this point and I'm keeping a close eye on your pitcher. Jose, you should have a word with your pitcher. Corky, can your bat boy make it off the field? We should get the game underway again.”

The two managers looked dissatisfied but stepped back. Jose walked off toward the mound, while Corky chatted with Dr Schmidt.

“I think his arm might be broken. I'm going to have him taken to the emergency room now,” said Dr Schmidt.

Jack stood and stepped toward the back. “Umpire …” he said, “Did you get a good look at that ball coming at my head? It was a gyroball.”

“Do you know what you're saying?”

“I do. If it's a gyroball, it's not wild, it's aimed. But you saw it. Didn't you notice? The lack of curve? He meant to hit me.”

“So—”

“I saw the rotation. It was unmistakable.”

“You know it's your word.”

“Yeah, I know.” Jack set his jaw. This was all he could do.

“OK then. I'll take it into consideration.”

He'd been feeling great and then …

_Ha!_

He wasn't going to let Aporia get to him. Let him do what he wants. Go after Yusei. Go after Rua. Go after him. It wouldn't work.

Jack glanced toward the dugout. Yusei was there looking anxious, sitting on the edge of the bench, his hands gripping his knees.

He suppressed his grin. Let Aporia think he was frustrated and shaken. He just hoped he could do enough of an acting job to get by. He was shaking, maybe that would help. He was shaking with excitement.

Aporia stared in at him in such a way that Jack thought he sensed something different. But there was nothing to do except wait for the pitch. He was ready for anything, including another beanball—but that would be risky for Aporia.

The result was a pitch low and away, difficult to handle, but Jack got under it and launched it. Home run.

_Man, that felt good!_

Much better than if the umpire had ejected Aporia.

“Hey, Aporia! Keep it warm. I'll be back for more!” he shouted as he rounded first.

After the inning, the home plate umpire was seen discussing something with Jose and Aporia down by the visitors' dugout.

Yusei stood near Crow. “They don't seem happy,” he commented.

“Nah. I think they're getting read the riot act.” Crow fidgeted a moment. “Uh, Yusei, you talking to me again? I'm really sorry about—”

“Let's forget it. Just … back me up next time, OK? Back _him_ up.”

“OK.”

“Then, we're good.” Yusei slapped Crow on the back … a little hard, and they took their places.

Good, but the score was tied, two-two in the third.

* * *

The game wore on to the ninth without either team giving in, still locked at two-two. Jack had found his rhythm and had thrown remarkably few pitches since the first inning.

Corky said, “I'm leaving you in the lineup. You're responsible for one of our runs, so I don't see any reason to pinch-hit for you.”

“Good,” said Jack. “I'm dying to ding him for another run.”

“All we need is one.”

Jack was the lead-off hitter for the inning and managed a walk, unusual for him.

Crow followed up with a little pop sacrifice to move him into scoring position, which brought Yusei up.

Perfect! This meant it was just between him and Aporia.

He stepped into the batter's box, took a swing, and assumed his batter's stance, determined to send Jack home, no matter what.

The first pitch came in, tight and low, pushing Yusei back for ball one. He stepped right back in, refusing to be intimidated.

The next pitch was high and outside. Yusei laid off, smiling to himself. Was Aporia measuring the strike zone for him? Two and oh, but he didn't want to walk.

The next one was hard to lay off, straight down the middle until it dropped, just missing the strike zone and hitting the dirt at Yusei's feet. He checked his swing just in time.

Now Aporia was going to have to give him something good or surrender a walk. He called time and put one foot back, looking toward the pitcher, but actually past him toward second, where Jack stood on the bag, staring in at him intensely.

Why was it that Jack looked so much better in a baseball uniform than everyone else, even with the bulky scarlet warm up jacket covering it? It must be that tall, slender frame of his. And why …

_Are you aware of your post-season stats so far?_

He flushed a little. It was true. When Jack was out there, he just … he needed to hit, to excel. Whether it was to compete with Jack, or to live up to his expectations, or just to help him … he wasn't sure. Whatever it was, there was a surge, an extra need to prove himself when Jack was there.

He stepped in, and …

_Crack!_

It was a double, not the homer he'd envisioned in his mind, but it was enough.

They'd won the game.

When Jack crossed the plate, Yusei stepped off of second and ran home. The team lifted him up, cheering. He looked down, his eyes briefly meeting Jack's.

If only they could hug and kiss openly. But even if they could, there was still Jack's post-game routine. He sighed.

A pitcher's job was pretty brutal.

 

**Chapter notes:**

[original notes:] I apologize for taking so long to update! This chapter took a long time (!) to get reasonable and I'm still not sure I'm happy with it. (Note to self, yet again: posting while writing ... not so good) Hope this isn't too rough, guys, but I really want to get this out. There were a couple of gross inconsistencies in this chapter that I weeded out and I hope that's all there were. Yeah, the cross-dressing, heh heh, normally I wouldn't use that device, but I needed to help Yusei save Jack's bacon, and he'd be pretty recognizable ... unless ... well, there you have it!

_I'd date girls_ : I understand, he _does_ date girls, but not seriously, so you know what he means!

Jack pitching the game: Probably not very realistic, but this is fiction! Of course, in reality, with the players' union, I wonder if the suspension would be instantly enforced? Good question. I don't know _that_ much about baseball!

_You saved me_ : I was hoping to draw a little bit of a parallel here with Aporia and Jack/Rua ... and then with Yusei again, coming in to drive Jack in hopefully echoing the earlier battle a little.

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

Note about the DH (designated hitter): As you may have noticed, I'm using National League rules as far as the DH is concerned. That is, the pitcher bats for himself, which makes Jack as a (phenomenally) good-hitting pitcher especially valuable. In MLB, the home team determines which rule is used in the World Series. Therefore, when the American League team is the home team, the DH rule is in force and when the National League team is the home team, it isn't. Since I grew up as a NL fan (and because I think it adds another interesting dimension to the game) I prefer doing without the DH. If there was a DH way back when, would Babe Ruth (the greatest two-way player ever to play the game) ever have graduated from pitching to the outfield? Probably not! Meanwhile, most leagues use the DH. Sigh. OK, getting off my soapbox now ...

_slapping rosin onto his batting gloves_ : Batters typically apply rosin to their bats and gloves to improve the grip. A bag of rosin powder is present in the on-deck circles.

_When he got to first base_ : When a batter his hit by a pitch, he's awarded first base.

_beaning the guy_ : That is, hitting him with a pitch (bean = head; beanball = pitch meant to hit a batter in the head).

_stepped off the rubber, almost a balk_ : The pitcher can't pause during his pitching motion once he starts it or a balk is called and the batter is awarded first base. The rubber is the location on the mound that the pitcher pitches from.

_arguing interference_ : A non-player would not be allowed on the playing field and any obstruction of play on their part is considered _interference_. The ball is declared dead and the umpire determines what the outcome of the play should be. The interfering player or non-player can be ejected (removed) from the field/stadium. In this case there's interference, but there's also the consideration of a potential hit-by-pitch.

_a gyroball_ : The gyroball is a pitch that has a spin on it like a bullet or (well-thrown) football pass, so that the spin is around the direction of travel, which makes for a very straight path. This makes the gyroball, in theory, much easier to control or aim than other pitches. Therefore, if Aporia threw a gyroball at Jack and hit him, it wouldn't be a mistake; it would be intentional.

_pinch-hit for you_ : Probably obvious, but a pinch hitter is a batter that comes in off the bench to bat for another player (in a “pinch”). The player that he hits for is usually a weaker hitter, such as the pitcher or a good fielder with a lower batting average. The pinch hitter might stay in to field or be replaced by someone else defensively.

_scoring position_ : Second or third base (from which you can easily score on a long fly) ... in this case, second base.

_He checked his swing_ : Started to swing and then stopped before going far enough to be called for a strike.

_Jack's post-game routine_ : I understand pitchers typically warm down (more exercise! but they need it to move the lactic acid out), have a meal to replace carbs they've used, review the game, undergo some treatment for their stressed muscles ... etc ... It's pretty extensive. And then they're supposed to take a good sleep and rest up. Whew!


	17. Going the Distance

The series continued, close-fought and intense. Yusei refused to give an inch, making spectacular plays in the field and batting an incredible .600 or so, so far. Jack pitched a shutout in the fourth game, turning it into a 8-0 laugher.

Still, Yliaster managed to eke out three games, forcing a seventh and deciding game.

It was good to be back in Neo Domino, despite the pressure of a tight series. The team had to attend a mandatory press event the morning of the final game. It would be brief, but it was still a bit of a distraction from getting ready for the game. Yusei could tell that Jack was anxious to get back to his game routine. Still, Jack was a natural show-off and handled the press with such ease that Yusei wished that he could do the same. He could only try to remember the answers that the press agents had coached and not say too many stupid things.

“Yliaster's a tough opponent. We have our work cut out for us,” he found himself saying at one point. It was true enough. Thank goodness it was a home game, and thank goodness their ace was closing out the series.

Thank goodness it was the last game. Yusei had personal reasons to be glad that the season was ending. He and Jack had only had the one night together so far and that had been a while ago now. Yusei was beginning to feel the strain pretty intensely now.

After all, a new relationship needed, er, maintenance.

Yusei was pretty sure that Jack felt the same way, too, judging by the glances they shared every time they could be sure no one else would notice.

Plus, they hadn't even had time alone together to catch up or make plans. It was frustrating beyond words. All they could do was wait for the end. A seven-game series! Why couldn't they have swept it!

_Just one more game. Let's make it a good one!_ Yusei thought.

At last the press event ended, and he walked out, drifting close to Jack on his way. “Ready for this?” he asked.

“What do you think?”

“Why do I even ask?”

As they neared the door, Jack suddenly looked to the side and said, “Carly? What are you doing here?”

“I have press credentials, and I have news for you. Maybe you'd be interested too, Yusei.”

“What's the scoop?” asked Jack.

“Well, remember how we saw Jose yelling on the dugout phone back before the first game?”

“Vaguely.”

“Yeah, well, your friend Kiryu and I thought that was a little weird, so I had that reporter I've been working with look into it.” She smiled broadly. “It's turned into the sports story of the year! Just between you and me, we break this story, you don't even have to play this game.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think” said Yusei, “that she's saying that Yliaster's involved in the fix.”

“What?”

“Exactly,” said Carly. “Guess who on Yliaster is represented by none other than Rex Godwin?”

“Not—”

“Aporia and Placido Primo, their center fielder.”

“No kidding!” breathed Yusei. “I didn't realized that. Why, isn't Aporia rated second this year?”

“He would have been rated first if Jack had been banned.”

“Don't break the story until after the game!” whispered Jack urgently.

“But—”

“I want to pitch this game.”

Yusei shrugged. “You heard the man. He wants to play.”

“OK. But these guys are—” she lowered her voice, “cheaters.”

“Well, let's deal with that later, one way or the other.”

“I'm not losing to a bunch of … you know.” Jack lifted his head and stalked off.

Yusei and Carly stared at each other for a moment. “Well, you know him. He'd rather take matters into his own hands no matter what,” said Yusei. “You can save him if he loses, but … I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen even if I have to field every hit ball myself.”

Carly laughed. “I can't believe you two. You have enough determination to carry the entire team. Never mind, though. We can hold the story until after the game. No one else knows the facts.”

As Yusei walked out, he heard Carly on her cell.

He agreed with Jack, though. He really didn't want to win by default, that would be lame. They'd never hear the end of it in the press. It would be a black eye to both teams even though the Dragons were faultless.

Still, he didn't want the rest of the team to know. They were nervous enough. Of course, for Jack, it didn't matter. Additional pressure only seemed to make him that much more determined to win, and now, ever since Yusei and he had gotten together, Jack had seemed determined to win as though that were some sort of proof of his worthiness of that bond.

Yusei smiled. As though that mattered. He just loved Jack. He tried to put these thoughts to the side and concentrate on the game.

Interestingly, he got a close-up look at Placido in the first inning when he had to apply a tag on him at second base on a short hopper to Crow. Placido slid and Yusei made sure to apply the tag firmly so that he could lean in and relay a message.

“Hey, Placido,” he said. “Send my regards to your agent.”

Placido stood up and brushed himself off without saying anything, but on his way back to the dugout, he couldn't help looking back over his shoulder.

_Yeah. Nervous_. Yusei gave him a knowing smile.

Placido turned a little too quickly and got back into the dugout. Yusei saw him talking with Aporia, who trained his eyes on Yusei.

The next inning, Placido dropped an easy fly ball for an error.

Maybe this would be easier than he thought.

Jack poked him in the ribs as they sat in the dugout and asked, “What's with Placido Primo today? He doesn't usually play like that.”

“Dunno, guilty conscience?”

“Wait a minute. Did you say something to him when you put him out?”

“Nothing special.”

Jack shrugged.

Aporia seemed to hold up better, but seemed more nervous than usual. He started having a few control problems, genuine ones this time, and fell apart in the sixth.

“Seriously,” Jack said, sitting in the dugout in the bottom of the seventh, “What did you say to Primo?”

Yusei raised an eyebrow. “Really, nothing. I just asked him to give my regards to his agent.”

Jack threw back his head and laughed, garnering odd looks from the entire dugout. “I didn't know you had it in you, Yusei. Honestly, for a nice guy, you sure can be a stinker.”

The remainder of the game went remarkably smoothly, leaving Dragons fans cheering and Yliaster fans crying in their beer.

* * *

The party lasted a long time … all too long, as far as Yusei and Jack were concerned, but they were two of the biggest heroes of the series, Jack having won three games and Yusei having racked up amazing stats, so they couldn't very well sneak out early. The team barely allowed Jack his warm-down.

When Jack rejoined the party, it had moved to the Heart of the Plate. He spotted Yusei hanging with Crow, Aki, and Kaz in a corner booth and headed in that direction.

“Jack! I'm so happy you won!” Carly bounded over to him and grabbed him by the arm.

“You didn't have to wait up for me,” he said. “This is awfully late.”

“Well, I wanted to, and the game was late anyway …” she looked up at him, eyes shining. “Of course I'd want to celebrate with you, Jack.”

“Of course.” He gave her a small smile. “Let's sit with my teammates.”

Jack didn't like to sit with Yusei in case his having Carly with him offended him, so he started to veer over toward the pitchers, but Yusei called out, “Come on over here, Jack!”

“Let's,” said Carly.

Jack wondered a little if Yusei was trying to remind him that it was time to break things off as he walked over to their table.

Kaz handed him and Carly each a glass of champagne. “So, what are your plans for the off-season?” he asked.

“Hadn't really thought about it. Probably the usual. You know, hiking, biking, conditioning, surfing … whatever catches my interest,” he glanced at Yusei a moment. “I'll be hanging around my place probably.”

“You need a room for next year? I'll still have a spare.”

“Thanks for the offer. I haven't decided what I'll do.”

“You know … I have a spare room too,” said Yusei. “And Crow's right next door. It would be three of us in the neighborhood that way. That is … if you refuse to buy in Neo Domino.”

Jack sighed. “I suppose I could get a condo. You know, they have some that are right near the stadium.”

Yusei frowned. “What? You never leave here as it is.”

“My point exactly.” Jack took a sip of champagne and grimaced. “Didn't anybody bring any beer to this shindig?”

“Of course they did,” said Yusei. “Let's both get some.”

As the two rose, Jack asked if Carly wanted any. “I think I'll stick with champagne,” she said.

As the two headed toward a huge ice chest filled with a selection of bottled beers, Yusei said in low tones, “The season's over.”

A hint of a smile played at the corner of Jack's lips. “Are you talking about Carly? I can't exactly talk to her right here. That would be kind of rude. As much as I want to get this over with.” When they got to the cooler, he took the opportunity to look into Yusei's eyes. “Are you in that much of a hurry?”

“It feels like I've been waiting forever, Jack. It feels like the series started a year ago. I want—”

“The same thing I do.” Jack's hand twitched as though wanting to move toward Yusei, but instead picked up a Samuel Adams out of the ice. Yusei sighed and fished out a Tsingtao.

The curl at the corner of Jack's lips intensified. “Glad to see your tastes are improving even if you can't appreciate a fuller-bodied beer.”

“Give me a little time, Jack.”

“Ha, ha. I thought you were the one rushing. So you really want to offer me your guest room, huh?”

“I like having you around. Actually, it's getting so I hate not having you around.”

But they were getting close to their friends now, so their conversation trailed off.

“What were you talking about back there?” asked Carly.

“I'm trying to broaden Yusei's appreciation of beer,” said Jack. “I've been working on him all season.”

“I'll say,” said Crow.

Aki elbowed him in the ribs rather hard at that.

“Ow! What was that for?! Jack messes with all of us.”

“What? I just try to improve your game and get you to notice the finer things, that's all.” He leaned back. “So are you two planning on making it official now that you have a few months off?”

Crow blushed profusely, while Aki beamed. “Well, we were planning on waiting a couple of days before announcing, but if you promise not to tell—”

“Are you kidding? You're talking to Jack!” interjected Crow.

“—yes, we're thinking of a holiday wedding.”

“But why listen to me? Go ahead, be my guest.”

Congratulations and back-slapping burst out at the table. “Well, I guess we know what you're doing during the off-season,” said Yusei. “How about you, Kaz?”

“I don't know. I haven't really thought about what I want to do after I retire, so I thought I'd look into the possibilities. I was thinking of maybe something in law enforcement.”

“What? For a millionaire? That doesn't make much sense, Kaz,” said Jack.

“Well, I want to do something to help people.” He scratched his head. “Maybe run some sort of foundation, then. Huh, maybe something with an overseas emphasis …”

“Now you're talking.”

“How about you, Yusei?” asked Carly. “What are you going to be doing?”

A smile sparked across Yusei's face. “I …” he started. “I'm going back to school,” he said shrugging, the smile never fading.

“Yah! I've never seen anyone so happy about school!” grumbled Crow. “Of course, he was always good at it. … Though I don't remember him being _this_ crazy about it … _Ow!_ Aki … watch your foot.”

The group continued like that for a while over champagne, beer, and hors d'oeuvres until Carly borrowed Jack for a walk.

She led him all the way out onto the stadium field. “This is the place you love best, isn't it, Jack?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“You guess? When have you ever been indecisive?”

“You're right, this is my favorite place.”

“But …” she sighed. “You've been trying to figure a way to break things off, haven't you?”

Jack started opening his mouth, but Carly stopped him.

“You don't have to say anything. The distance between us has been growing.” She shook her head. “You're great, Jack. I wish I were the girl for you, but … I've had the feeling for a long time that you've just sort of been waiting for a chance to let me off easy. I guess … I probably shouldn't have asked you to wait until after the season, should I?”

“Carly … I—”

“Don't apologize.”

“No, wait. I wish I could have been a better boyfriend, but it couldn't work out between us. You should know that. I've known it … well, I've known it for a long time and I should have let you know right away.”

“No, I think I get it. I know it's none of my business—”

“You're my girlfriend—”

“You know that's not really true, Jack. I love you, but, really, I'm your _friend_.” She reached out and took his hand. “Your friend, who stopped by that day …”

“Yusei?”

“Right. He's more than just … a friend, right? I know, it's none of my business …”

Jack looked down. “He's everything to me … and …” he scowled, hating the emotion he heard in his voice, “if the media got our story—”

“I know it …”

“I know we're flying high, but … this sort of story, no one wants to hear about a ballplayer. It's … infuriating.”

“It's your career, Jack. And his.”

“It could be a huge story for you, Carly. How can you be so understanding?”

She smiled ruefully. “I've already cried it out, Jack, don't worry. What good does it do to be upset? I still care about you. I'd be pretty awful to hurt someone I love so much that badly.”

“Carly …”

“Hey, if everything's OK, is it all right if I accept Kiryu's invitation?”

“What? Kiryu?”

Carly blushed a little. “He kinda said that if you got stupid and broke up with me, he'd like to take me out to the movies.”

“Oh … so is that why you're breaking up with me …?”

Carly's blush deepened to red and Jack hugged her. “I—” she started.

“It's OK. It's not like this wasn't inevitable. Kiryu … Well, I kind of blurted it out to him just before the series. It's weird. Hardly anyone knew and now there are already several people. I must be losing my touch. I'm becoming far too trusting.” Jack frowned. “I'm seriously going to have to pull myself together.”

“Jack, I think you're great no matter what.”

“Carly, that might qualify as a personal shortcoming. Do you want to go back to the party? Or should I take you home?”

“If you don't mind … Can you tell everyone that I was called away on a story? I'd kind of like to be by myself for a while, and I came in my car …”

“I guess so, if you think you'll be fine …”

Jack walked Carly to her car. “Jack …” she said, looking up at him.

“Yes?”

Quickly, she stretched up and kissed him. “Goodbye, Jack,” she said, then ducked quickly into the car.

Sighing, Jack headed back to the party in a more somber frame of mind. On his way there, he ran into Yusei, looking for him in the darkened corridors.

“Thank goodness, I thought you had left with Carly,” he said. Looking carefully down the long hallway in both directions, he pushed Jack to the side and leaned up to kiss him.

Disengaging, Jack said, “Did you miss me?”

“Jack … I've been missing you for days. I've hardly had a chance to talk to you. What did Carly want to talk about?”

“A couple of things. Breaking up, mostly.”

“Oh, really? The great Jack Atlas has been dumped?”

“It was mutual, I'll have you know.”

“By the way, I thought you should know that the party's breaking up.”

“I thought it would never end. Let's get out of here.”

“Is Kaz expecting you?”

“He might expect me to leave with Carly, the way things are going.”

“And if he hears about the break-up?”

Jack shrugged. “I was depressed and decided to stay out drinking.”

“Convenient.”

“I want to be with you. Let's go to my house.”

“In Satellite?”

“It's not that far away.”

“I don't know if I can wait that long,” he said, checking the hallway again and pressing against Jack to prove his point.

Jack stifled a moan and grabbed Yusei's arm. “We don't have to pack up until tomorrow, so let's bug out—” _before I lose it_. He was sorely tempted to drag Yusei into the nearest men's room or storage closet, but he refused to stoop to that level. Letting his hand slip down to Yusei's, he fairly pulled him as he strode out to the area where the ballplayers parked.

“Ah, Baby!” he said, greeting his monowheel.

“I thought you weren't supposed to be riding her yet.”

“Well, I kind of cheated on that ever since our little misunderstanding. It was only for those four home games during the series, after all!” He hopped on and patted the spot behind himself. Plenty of room behind me,” he said. “You don't have a problem with that, do you?”

Yusei shot him a grin. “Not at all, although I would have thought you'd insist I get in front.”

“Funny …”

Yusei slipped in back as Jack revved the engine, wrapping his arms around Jack's torso. Jack sped way too fast over the bridge and to the seaside in Satellite. Yusei hated having to wear a helmet because he wanted to press his cheek against the broad back in front of him. Just having his body molded around Jack's, his thighs on either side of his narrow hips, was driving him crazy. If I had to drive with these thoughts going through my mind, Yusei thought, I'd crash for sure.

The area Jack lived in had a beautiful ocean view.

“I thought Satellite was all industrialized,” Yusei said as they pulled up. He took his helmet off and looked around, peering into the darkness at the sparkling water.

“Not all. There are areas that are being reclaimed, like this one. You should see it during the day. The surfing is pretty good.” He hopped off, tossed his helmet aside, and lifted Yusei off onto his feet. Jack didn't bother taking his hands off Yusei, instantly claiming him in an embrace and pulling him into a deep kiss. It was hard for Jack to stop there, his hands roaming over Yusei's body, earning an immediate and avid response.

When they finally broke away, Yusei said, “Aren't you worried someone will see?”

“Not so much. The neighbors are pretty distant, it's dark, and, well, I haven't been here for weeks. But let's get inside unless you want things to really get embarrassing.”

“Let's.”

Jack showed Yusei in through the door and managed somehow to lock it, but at that point, Yusei threw his arms around Jack. Somehow they made it to the living room couch, leaving a trail of clothing in their wake.

Much later, Yusei squinted to make out Jack's somnolent face in the darkness. After the full game and this additional effort, he was completely exhausted and out cold on the couch. Yusei felt a little guilty that they didn't make it to Jack's bed, especially since it would be almost impossible for him to carry Jack there. Thankfully the couch was a generous size, chosen with Jack's proportions in mind. He certainly had no plans on leaving him to himself tonight.

Plus, it gave Yusei an excuse to snuggle in more closely to his lover. He smiled at the thought. _I can think of him this way now._

_My lover._

* * *

Several days later, Yusei sat cross-legged on the stretch of beach in back of Jack's house. A large book, well highlighted, lay all but forgotten on his lap as he looked out over the ocean, enraptured by the view. The dark waves sparkled beneath the azure sky as they crashed in … not bad surfing at all. It was perfect, fall breathing out the last few sighs of the dying summer, unwilling to give in to the onset of winter just yet.

That was just it, in fact. Yusei felt compelled to drink it all in while he could. The long, toned legs, the sculpted abs, the broad chest and back of his beautiful lover would be covered soon enough by a wetsuit when he surfed. But now, Jack was out in all his glory, wearing only trunks, his toes clinging to the edge of his surfboard, body flexed and taut, arms held out for balance, hair tails flying …

It was almost as good as watching him pitch …

_Hm … I wonder if I could get him to pitch in his trunks sometime …_

Yusei imagined what that would look like for a moment, then put his book down. He needed to take a dip right away and cool down before things got seriously out of hand.

It wasn't as though Jack seemed to mind the occasional interruption, but this looked like it would be one of his last good days of surfing.

But tonight, he was going to keep Jack up working off all this excess tension, that's all there was for it!

They had certainly kept busy enough getting things in order since the season ended. Jack had switched to Yusei's agent and switched all his accounts over, plus retained an attorney to ensure that everything in the transfer went smoothly and that his interests were taken care of.

Jack had insisted on meeting his impostor and, after speaking with investigators, it seemed very likely that they were related and might even be identical twins. As Yusei put it, though, for Jack's benefit, “For identical twins, you're sure not that much alike!”

Not when it came to work ethic and success, anyway … as far as Yusei was concerned. He thought the guy was a bum. Prince, hah!

As far as living arrangements went, they decided to play it by ear to start with. They'd pretty much decided that Jack would take Yusei's spare room during the season and Yusei would hang out a lot with Jack training with him and enjoying his ocean view in the winter.

Thinking about all this, Yusei walked in from his little dip and settled on his towel. Looking up, he noticed Jack walking in from the surf. “Getting much studying done?” he asked.

“Not today.”

“What's the problem? I left you alone just the way you wanted.”

“It's not your fault. It's just that the view's a little too nice. It's distracting.” He took his time looking Jack over. “Yeah,” he said, “really distracting.”

Jack knelt down on the towel next to him—not that there was a lot of room—and detached his surfboard line. “You find me distracting?”

“As you well know, Jack,” he said, pulling him in for a kiss. “Salty. That's how I got pulled into this whole mess in the first place, isn't it?”

“Oh, I'm a mess, now, am I?”

“Yeah … I'll say. Look at all the crap you've gone through, just in one season. Hit by a line drive, framed for gambling by your agent—with your long lost twin brother involved, no less—breakup with your girlfriend … what more can I expect?”

“Well …” he said, allowing an arrogant grin to spread across his face, “I'll admit that's a lot to live up to, but I'll try to keep your life exciting in the future!”

“Jack …”

“Yusei … there's one thing that happened to me this season that you didn't mention. The most important thing.” He ran his hand through Yusei's hair. “I found someone special … really special.”

Yusei had wanted to keep this light, but found himself melting, looking into Jack's gleaming, violet eyes.

“Let's go inside,” said Jack.

“Don't you want to take advantage of the nice weather?”

“Yeah, but … there's something else I want to do right now that's even better, and you said you were distracted.” Jack stood, pulling Yusei onto his feet after him. “Unless you'd rather study.”

“I can't study now.” Yusei leaned up against Jack, closing his eyes and yielding at last to the urge to wrap his arms around Jack and touch as much of his body as he could. “You know, anybody could see us …”

“I don't see that stopping you, but at this moment, I don't really care.” He began walking toward the house, Yusei leaning heavily against him. “All I care about is you. I love you, Yusei.”

_~ finis ~_

 

**Chapter notes:**

Looking at the notes for this chapter, I was reminded that my last laptop died right as I was wrapping up this story. Thank goodness for backups!

Samuel Adams and Tsingtao: Haha ... plugs for a couple of my favorite brands of beer ...

[as of original posting] Just a (rather verbose!) note about the state of the acceptance of homosexuality in pro sports: I wish I could write that even MVP-level players like I've made Jack and Yusei out to be could proudly come out and own who they are without fear of compromising their careers, but sadly that is not the case in the real world of pro sports. Brendon Ayanbadejo, Ravens linebacker who has vocally supported gay marriage on the basis of equal rights, has recently had a politician ask his employers to prevent him from voicing his support. But apparently there is hope because he says he has received support from within football as well as without. I only hope that the trend toward tolerance and acceptance may continue. Meanwhile, I didn't feel that it was realistic to have these two announce their relationship, even though it would have been satisfying to write it that way. I hope that it worked out for you, kind readers.

Update: As of this posting, more athletes have found the courage to publicly come out. I am sorry that this is news. Hopefully some day in the not-too-distant future, it will be a non-issue.

Well, that's it for this story! If discovered this story here or are re-reading it here, I hope you liked it to the not-so-bitter end! Thanks for reading, and if you left kudos or a comment, thanks for the extra boost! :)

'Til next time, DD

**Baseball jargon & stuff:**

_Going the distance_ : A pitcher who goes the distance pitches a complete game.

_shutout_ : Doesn't allow a run by the opposing team.

_seven-game series_ : The modern World Series is best of seven. There were a few in the early days (including the Black Sox scandal) that were best of nine.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! And thanks ever so for the kudos! :) I hope you enjoyed this story. This was my first AU. If you have a reaction, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you.


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